Terry Jones Jailed Over Mosque Protest

Then he decides to pay $1 bond
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 23, 2011 9:40 AM CDT
Terry Jones Jailed Over Mosque Protest
A judge ordered Terry Jones to jail after he refused to pay a $1 peace bond over a planned demonstration outside a Michigan mosque.   (AP Photo/John T. Greilick, Pool)

A Michigan judge didn't think Terry Jones' plan to hold an armed protest outside a mosque in a heavily Muslim area was such a great idea, and the Koran-torcher got tossed in jail briefly for his trouble, reports the AFP. "The First Amendment does us no good if it confines us to saying what is popular," Jones argued in court yesterday, but a jury sided with prosecutors' argument that the rally was more about avoiding potential violence than free speech.

Jones and sidekick Wayne Sapp were ordered to pay a symbolic bond of $1, which they refused—until an hour in the clink convinced them to pay up. The pair have left town but Jones tells the Free Press that "we'll come back next week." Such a move would land him back in jail; the judge banned Jones and Sapp from going near the mosque for three years. (More Terry Jones stories.)

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