Anti-Islam pastor and Quran-burner Terry Jones is threatening to sue the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office in Dearborn, Michigan, after he was briefly arrested on Friday for initially refusing to pay a $1 peace bond related to his planned protest in front of a mosque.
Jones had planned to protest in front of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, in opposition to “radical Islam” and Sharia law. Local officials were concerned that Jones and his protesters could cause outbreaks of violence in the city.
Jones caused global controversy last fall when he announced plans to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, before he was pressured into calling it off. He did eventually burn a Quran in March, which led to several days of violent protests in Afghanistan in which at least two dozen people died.
Officials in Dearborn denied Jones a permit to protest in his desired spot, and on Thursday Jones and fellow pastor Wayne Sapp appeared in court and were ordered to pay a “peace bond” and stay away from the Islamic Center for three years. The Detroit News explains:
The pair were tried under a rarely used law originally passed in 1846 that requires those who are likely to breach the peace to post “peace bonds.”
When Jones and Sapp refused to pay the bond, they were jailed for a brief period Friday evening. Eventually, they paid and were released, but Jones said he may file a lawsuit against officials in Michigan who were connected to his arrest: “It was a total violation of our constitutional rights,” he told the Detroit Free Press Saturday. “It was a mockery of the judicial process.”
Jones also says he plans to return to Michigan next Friday for a rally — outside Dearborn City Hall.
