Tag Archives: John O’Reilly (Dearborn)

Aug 13

VIDEO: Roger Williams and Acts 17 Apologetics in Dearborn, MI

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In the police report from June 18th, a Christian volunteer at the Dearborn International Arab Festival named Roger Williams made a criminal complaint against 4 other Christians. He claimed that (see the PDF above, page 10 and 11):

  • he had been harassed by a film crew
  • he advised the subjects (David, Nabeel, Negeen and Paul) that
    • he did not want to be filmed
    • he wanted them to stop filming
  • they surrounded him and continued to film despite his request
  • he attempted to leave several times
  • they continued to pester and badger him with questions while filming him
  • after pestering and badgering he again asked them to stop filming
  • after all this (harassment, pestering, badgering, surrounding, questioning, filming) David, Nabeel, and Paul stopped filming but Negeen continued to film from further away
    • Negeen filmed within hearing distance

The police report includes a record of the conversation between the officer (Brian Kapanowski) and David, Nabeel and Paul held en route to the police station (this report is not entirely accurate according to Nabeel, more to come on that later).

En Route to the station, Qureshi, Wood, and Rezkalla asked me about the allegations. I explained they were under arrest for Breach of Peace and explained the allegations against them. Without questioning, they stated that they never “surrounded” Williams. Qureshi and Wood added they did film him speaking with another individual who supposedly was distributing pamphlets against City Ordinance. When they began confronting Williams about the conversation, Qureshi and Wood stated he did ask them to stop filming but they continued and repeated the questions. After being asked by Williams again, Qureshi lowered the microphone and instructed Wood to stop filming. Wood stated he stopped filming Williams but did not shut the camcorder off in order to catch the conversation on film. After brief conversation with Williams, they stated Williams radioed for security and they continued to ask him questions including why he needed to call for security. They later left and saw a female taking pictures of them so they filmed her doing same. Qureshi, Wood, and Rezkalla stated the reason they were filming at ArabFest in the first place was in response to an incident last year involving security assaulting them. They wanted everyone at the festival to know of “the injustice and brutality”.

If you watch this video and can see the obvious (that Roger Williams was not harassed, pestered or badgered by Acts 17, and that he was able to walk away at any time) then you must consider the following.

The Dearborn Police have had this footage in their possession for over 7 weeks. They know that Williams was not honest or accurate when he made his complaint on June 18th. Why then haven’t they dropped the court case? Why did Dearborn Mayor John O’Reilly write an open letter to everyone who emailed him knowing that their charges were based on mis-information?

Why did the Dearborn Police withhold the video footage (along with thousands of dollars worth of audio/video equipment) for 25 days? Was this so that the mayor could go on television and lie about Acts 17? So he could send out his letter and make all kinds of false claims without that annoying footage available online which would contradict him?

Since there is an obvious discrepancy from a key individual who initiated the false arrests why not drop everything and apologize? I propose that there is more going on here than an honest concern for justice and American Law. It may be the Dearborn City government catering to a voting Arab population. It could be retaliation over the embarrassing video of Acts 17 being harassed in Dearborn last year (in which the police bought into more lies from festival workers, btw)? Without stating for sure what the motive is for this illegal denial of 1st amendment rights it is clear that it was based on Williams false testimony from the start and it has been going because of a bias in the Dearborn government since Williams gave them an opportunity to act.

Please visit Answering Muslims: Axis of Deception at Arabfest: Roger Williams, Amal Alslami, and Dearborn Police

Jul 26

David Wood and Dearborn Mayor John O’Reilly on The Bob Siegel Show

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Bob Siegel has uploaded yesterday’s hour long show to his ‘Radio Archives‘ section. To access the show you can listen on this page. Bob Siegel comments:

Mayor John B. O’Reilly of Dearborn, Michigan came on the radio program, along with Christian Apologist, David Wood, one of four Christians arrested while sharing the gospel with Muslims. They each offered contrasting interpretations of these events that are causing controversy all over the internet. This interview is rare and stimulating for two reasons:

1) It aired without commercial interruptions, non stop for about 45 minutes.

2) Both men talked respectfully and neither cut off the other. There was no cross talk. As a result, the audience is left with an excellent conversation with which to make up their own minds about the facts.

If you listen to the show on Mr. Siegel’s website, the actual interview starts about at about 12:55 in his recording. It turns out my recording from yesterday only missed a few minutes of the interview. Once the show has buffered on his site you can skip ahead to hear the interview. You can also download the MP3 directly

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(right-click, hit ‘Save Link As…’).

David Wood has posted his reflections of the show on his blog Answering Muslims. He asks some questions which bear repeating:

(1) The mayor continues to refer to “free speech zones.” But as Nabeel pointed out, in the very cases the mayor appeals to, the courts ruled that people are free to walk around holding discussions (as we were doing). Does the mayor have a court case where a court ruled that people are not allowed to hold a dialogue in public?

(2) The mayor acknowledges that security last year was poorly trained, and that additional training was needed for this year. But the point of our video last year was that security was harassing Christians and attacking us for asking a question at a booth. If the mayor admits that they behaved poorly due to insufficient training, why demonize us for making this public? The fact is that the additional training was required specifically because we drew attention to injustice. Shouldn’t the mayor be thanking us for making the festival a better, safer place?
Continue reading →

Jul 25

MP3 of David Wood and John O’Reilly on The Bob Siegel Show

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I read on Answering Muslims that Dearborn Mayor John O’Reilly was going to be on the Bob Siegel show with David Wood from 3pm to 4pm at about 3:15pm. I raced there and recorded what I could. I got about 3/4 of the show. Download the mp3s below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

A larger version (72MB) of the whole show is available here (Special thanks to “Haecceitas”)

If you want to download it via bittorrent please use the link below:

David Wood and John OReilly on the Bob Siegel Show.mp3.torrent

If you are new to bittorrent and want to download the file(s) please read: How to Download a File with Bittorrent (It’s easy, I promise)

Jul 09

Mayor of Dearborn responds to Acts 17 Apologetics

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I just read a 5 page PDF from John B. O’Reilly Jr. the Mayor of Dearborn, MI, the city where 4 Christians were falsely arrested last month. I honestly wasn’t expecting a reply of any kind (and just in case there is any dispute, the letter I read is posted here: mayorletter07-09-2010)

As Mayor O’Reilly would contend, many Christian groups come to Dearborn to evangelize at the Arab festival and do so without any problem. The sole culprits are Acts 17 Apologetics, an apologetics ministry headed by David Wood and Nabeel Qureshi. O’Reilly states:

The City of Dearborn has been under attack for several years by a group identifying themselves as Acts 17 Apologetics. They arrive in Dearborn with the intent to disrupt a local cultural festival and misrepresent facts in order to further their mission of raising funds through emotional response. The funds they raise are then used to finance travel and cameras to disrupt other events in other cities.

This paragraph (the first paragraph of the open-letter) reveals a lot about the Mayor. Not only does Mayor O’Reilly know the actions of David and Nabeel, he also knows their motives. Of course the Mayor of the city in which this breach of civil rights occurred is going to be unbiased in his assessment… riiiight. Throughout the letter John O’Reilly paints these men as villains, accusing them of illegal behavior.

  • Mayor O’Reilly does not address what happened to the illegally confiscated cameras.
  • Mayor O’Reilly does not address what happened to the illegally confiscated video footage.

Mayor O’Reilly may think he “knows* why Acts 17 operates. Even if he were right that does not excuse the illegal behavior of the Dearborn Police. Please do not buy into the spin. Let’s be honest, if he were right in what he wrote, the video footage his police illegally obtained would prove his case. Let’s see it, O’Reilly. If there’s nothing to hide then return their cameras.

VIDEO: David Wood speaks openly to Dearborn Police Chief about false arrest and confiscated cameras (MUST WATCH)