Pastor defends mosque protest

DEARBORN, Mich., April 22 (UPI) -- Florida pastor Terry Jones defended his right to protest outside a Michigan mosque Friday, promising not to burn Korans.

Jones acted as his own attorney in a Dearborn, Mich., court to fight the city's refusal of a permit for a rally, The Detroit News reported.

"We are not criminals. All we want to do is exercise our First Amendment rights," he said.

His rally was scheduled for late Friday afternoon.

Jones' burning of a Koran in his hometown of Gainesville, Fla., in March led to deadly riots in Afghanistan

Jones and pastor Wayne Sapp faced off against Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad in court over his denial of a permit based on information that Jones might burn a Koran. The chief acknowledged that Jones never said he would do so.

"I have no evidence to back up my fears," he said, "but your behavior in the past has led me to that fear."

Haddad testified there is a risk of violence and two people are being investigated for threats against Jones.

Jones "has shown a careless disregard for loss of life," the chief said. "He has shown a disregard for his own life."

Dearborn lawyer Majed Moughni says the pastor has a right to protest outside the mosque.

Jones should be allowed to "speak as he wishes, which is his right under the Constitution," Moughni told the Detroit Free Press Thursday.

Moughni is no Jones fan, though. He told the newspaper he burned Jones in effigy last year outside his Dearborn home after Jones threatened to observe the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by burning more than 200 copies of Koran, the sacred text of Islam, at his Florida church.

Jones, a non-denominational pastor, canceled the burning but oversaw the burning of a single Koran six months later after a mock criminal trial at his church March 20. That burning, which Jones called an "execution," drew little response worldwide except in Afghanistan, where protesters overran a U.N. compound April 1, killing 12 people.

Even with that, Jones should be allowed to protest outside Dearborn's Islamic Center of America, North America's largest mosque, on Good Friday, Moughni said.

He called on local prosecutors to "withdraw their demands" that Jones pay a "peace bond" to cover the cost of police protection and let him protest for free.

"Instead of him being the bad guy, now he's the hero," Moughni said. "They've turned him into a hero of the First Amendment."