Friday, January 27, 2012

Court Awards Attorneys’ Fees Against the City of Dearborn, Michigan for Violating a Christian Pastor’s Right to Freedom of Speech

The City of Dearborn has no respect for Freedom of Speech. They threw four of us in jail for having a peaceful discussion at the Arab Festival. They took us into custody two days later for attempting to distribute copies of the Gospel of John outside the Arab Festival. They threw Terry Jones and his partner Wayne Sapp in jail for planning to hold a rally across the street from the largest mosque in America. And they violated the rights of countless Christians by threatening to jail anyone who would dare pass out tracts within five blocks of the Arab Festival.

Fortunately, there are lawyers who believe in fighting for our Constitutional rights. In 2011, Robert Muise won a long legal battle on behalf of Pastor George Saieg. Pastor Saieg, who immigrated to the U.S. from Sudan (and therefore understands what it's like to live under Muslim rule), simply wanted the right to pass out tracts to Muslims. The Thomas More Law Center took up his case and defeated Dearborn's pro-Sharia attorneys. Pastor George went to the 2011 festival with his team and passed out materials to thousands of Muslims.

Of course, fighting lengthy legal battles costs money, which is why it's exciting to learn that the city is now required to pay the Thomas More Law Center more than $100,000 in attorneys' fees. We can only hope that Dearborn finally learns its lesson and stops harassing non-Muslims. Here's the update from the American Freedom Law Center:

AFLC--Today, a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Detroit, Michigan recommended that Robert J. Muise, the attorney for Christian Pastor George Saieg, be awarded $103,401.96 in fees and costs for successfully challenging the City of Dearborn’s restriction on the Christian’s right to freedom of speech at the 2009 Arab Festival held in the City. The City, not wanting to offend its large Muslim population, would not allow the Christian to hand out religious literature at the Festival.

In the order, the federal judge stated, “In this case, the Plaintiff received the full relief he sought — an invalidation of the leafleting restriction and a permanent injunction barring its enforcement. . . . Because this result ‘cannot fairly be labeled as anything short of excellent, [Plaintiff] is entitled to a fully compensatory fee.’” AFLC Senior Counsel Robert J. Muise represented Pastor Saieg in this successful free speech case. At the time, Muise was Senior Trial Counsel for the Thomas More Law Center. The City has 14 days to appeal. [Read order here]

“The award of attorney fees in this case,” noted Muise, “is critical in the lawfare against Civilization Jihad and dhimmitization, or subjugation, of an entire municipality in Michigan. Dearborn has a long record of this kind of illegal, heavy-handed treatment of Christians as an attempt to placate Dearborn’s sharia-faithful. The court’s ruling today demonstrates that this kind of behavior will come at great cost.”

Muise recently won acquittals for charges of “disturbing the peace” brought by the Dearborn prosecutor against a group of Christians following their arrests by Dearborn police in 2010 for the same kind of peaceful free speech activities. Muise and David Yerushalmi of the American Freedom Law Center, along with attorneys from the Thomas More Law Center, currently represent these Christians in a civil action arising from these arrests.

The American Freedom Law Center is a Judeo-Christian law firm that fights for faith and freedom. It accomplishes its mission through litigation, public policy initiatives, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. Visit us at www.americanfreedomlawcenter.org.

Click here to learn more about Dearborn.

25 comments:

Kufar Dawg said...

Sure this is a victory, but I'll bet
that the corrupt Dearbornistan police force, legislature, judiciary and CAIR will be getting more creative in their attempts to quash free speech in deference to islamonazism in the future.

Kangaroo said...

Bunch of idiot missionaries disturbing the Muslim neighborhood by trying to convert them to paganism.

Why do you think they treat you this way?

THEY DON'T WANT YOUR NONSENSE

David Wood said...

Pay attention to Kangaroo's comments, everyone. Notice that this Muslim, living in the West, believes it's perfectly acceptable to harass and even arrest Christians who try to distribute information to Muslims.

And people think we're silly or bigoted when we say that Islam is a threat to our Constitutional freedoms.

Kim said...

How about you keep your Paganism to yourself and get off my lawn bro.

David Wood said...

"How about you keep your Paganism to yourself" . . . said the girl who bows down to a pagan shrine (the Ka'ba), kisses a black stone (as her prophet did), and says "May Allah's prayers be upon him" whenever she mentions Muhammad.

Deleting said...

Kim said, "How about you keep your Paganism to yourself and get off my lawn bro."

How bout you keep your paganism to YOURSELF and get out of our country bro.

You hate the west anyways and Saudi Arabia (or London) are short a few 'child brides'.

WhatsUpDoc said...

A reward for showing the courage by your team to go there among hostile people.

Brovo to David, Nabil and company.

aussie christian said...

Interesting that these self claimed "moderate muslims" fully believe in no compultion in religion.

Next time they try and drag this up we can point to their hate speach of supporting discrimination based on religion. Kangaroo and Kim are the best weapons against islam we have, they prove our points for us so beautifuly.

Kim said...

I dont hate the "West". Fyi. But you missionaries keep budging into neighborhoods...unwelcomed and think that you are going to be treated nicely. Ha!

search 4 truth said...

I dont hate the "West". Fyi. But you missionaries keep budging into neighborhoods...unwelcomed and think that you are going to be treated nicely. Ha!

So are you implying we should be attacked for our beliefs! Look at this backward mindset.

It is remarkable how in this day and age this backwardness and fascist bigotry still exists!

Kufar Dawg said...

I can't help but notice the islamonazi pigs and their useful shills don't seem to understand the concept of freedom of speech. Of course, in whatever islamonazi pigsty they crawled out of anyone publicly proselytizing any religion besides Islam to muslimes would be dead or in prison.

WhatsUpDoc said...

@Kim At this stage public property does not belong to Muslims only. The liberal politicians make it an exception in case of Muslims soon in the future until than we still have the right to it.

Traeh said...

No wonder there is no freedom of speech in Muslim countries. They are full of thugs like Kim, who say people speaking freely about religion should be subject to arrest, brutality, etc. Kim the thug.

Anonymous said...

@kim and kangaroo
wait let me get this straight kim so its legal for muslims to spread their message in a typical western neigbourhood and others are not allowed to do theirs in yours.

so you and Kangaroo, you guys are being hypocritcal

Deleting said...

Kim said, "But you missionaries keep budging into neighborhoods...unwelcomed and think that you are going to be treated nicely. Ha!"


Awww...you poor wittle mooooslim don't like being handed something you will probably through away anyways.
You can walk away if you like hearing it.
Many christians do it to dawaish all.the.time.
The difference is we don't get our panties in a bunch.
When muslims get upset someone has to get arrested, get hurt or get blown up.
Vastly different reactions Kim.
But as I said, you live in the west Deal with it.

Deleting said...

One more thing Kim. You said, "But you missionaries keep budging into neighborhoods...unwelcomed and think that you are going to be treated nicely. Ha!"

And yet you still come on here. We had almost a month of silence without you here and it was wonderful.
If you don't like it, leave. No one makes you post here so go.

Anonymous said...

Hey Kim and Kangaroo why don't Muslims ever knock on my door?


Do they even care that I'm gonna end up in hell?


I would love for Muslims to come and talk to me about Islam
I wonder why I never see Muslims out in the neighboor hood talking to people about Muhammad and Islam?



In regards to other matters it's simple IF YOU DONT LIKE AMERICA PICK UP YOUR BAGS AND LEAVE.



Too many people have died and sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we have.

Samatar Mohamed said...

@Kangaroo, Kim

Now, lets be consistent here. Da'wah is important in Islam. And if we have the right to speak to others about our faith with others, others should have the right to speak about their beliefs with us. As muslims who are on the right path, lets not take our blessing for granted by insulting and limiting the freedom of speech of people of other faiths. Remember to thank Allah (swt) for his blessing and to share our faith with the world, while also allowing those of other faiths to share their beliefs with us.

simple_truth said...

aaron said...

"
@kim and kangaroo
wait let me get this straight kim so its legal for muslims to spread their message in a typical western neigbourhood and others are not allowed to do theirs in yours.

so you and Kangaroo, you guys are being hypocritcal
"
aaron, you beat me to it. One way to test Muslims is to see if they can live by the Golden Rule. If they can't place themselves in our position and suffer the same treatment without complaints, then they are liars and hypocrites at the least. We all know that if their ability to spread Islam was legally taken away from them, they would be the first to cry out rage, oppression, injustice, etc. They can't even see how backwards their thinking is. Their thinking is heavily dictated by their religion. They must fit rationality within the confines of their religion. That is why they are so stifled when it comes to common sense and sound reasoning. They become slaves to stupidity and idoicy more than most other religions/ideologies combined.

The Berean Search said...

Kangaroo,

In the United States "idiots" are allowed to speak "nonsense" in public places and hand out printed materials without being harassed.

It's called freedom of speech, and if you don't like it I suggest you hop along to some other country whose laws are more consistent with your beliefs.

BOOTA SINGH said...

Dear Kangroo,Kim and all the muslims
These Christian missionaries are not born over night, like Muhammad to preach islam with sword.sura 9:29 and others
They are fulfilling the command of Jesus Christ which he gave in Matthew 28: 19-20
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This is not paganism we believe on the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We are not following any 7th century Arab uneducated lunatic.

Peace.

Juniper in the Desert said...

You are truly so brave with your honesty and love of truth! Thank you so much for standing up for all of us freedom and truth lovers. God bless you all!!

curly said...

@Trash,
"No wonder there is no freedom of speech in Muslim countries"

TRUE.. It is surprise to see the behavior of Kim and Kangaroo

curly said...

@Samatar,
Thank you !

genebaq said...

Kim and kangaroo, atleast be thankful there is freedom of speech in america, coz w/o it, you won't be in america today.....just my cents...