“These Christian missionaries were exercising their constitutional rights to free speech and free exercise of religion”

The Thomas More Law Center, an Ann Arbor-based Christian legal defense organization, has agreed to represent four evangelists who were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace last Friday night at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn, Michigan. (Original story here: http://bit.ly/9VE2VJ)

Dearborn police officers violated their free speech rights when their video cameras, which were used to record conversations with festival-goers, were confiscated, said lead attorney Robert Muise.

“Our mission is to defend the religious liberty of Christians,” Muise said. “When the police are grabbing cameras and shutting people down, that’s a problem for everyone.”

Muise faxed a letter Monday to Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad requesting the return of his clients’ cameras and tapes.

The Police Department has not responded to Muise’s request.

The four — Negeen Mayel of California; Nabeel Qureshi of Virginia; Paul Rezkalla, a New York University student; and David Wood of New York — were released on bail Saturday. They will plead not guilty and ask for a jury trial, Muise said, at an initial hearing on July 12 in the 19th District Court.

Read More: http://detnews.com/article/20100623/METRO/6230376 [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]