Islam critic and evangelist author charged with arson

Daphne Anis Shorrosh, a Palestinian Arab and author of Christian evangelist books critical of Islam, was arrested early Wednesday morning and accused of attempting to set fire to a plastic recycling bin at the Loma Alta Towers where he lives.

The condo’s residents were evacuated when smoke from the smoldering blue plastic container set off alarms at about 10 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said. The large bin contained tax records from Shorrosh’s evangelical association, police said.

The bin was only partially melted. But if the fire had intensified and somehow spread to the tower, residents could have been hurt or even killed, said Daphne Police Lt. Jud Beedy. About 50 people were evacuated, he said.

“He endangered a lot of people,” Beedy said.

Shorrosh was placed in police custody shortly after officers and firefighters arrived at the condo tower. A warrant had already been issued for Shorrosh’s arrest, and he was charged with criminal mischief for alleged ly damaging the security system at Loma Alta Towers on Saturday, Beedy said.

Beedy said that, around the time the fire was set Tuesday evening, security cameras downstairs at the tower captured Shorrosh entering and exiting the room where the garbage and recycling containers are kept, Beedy said.

At about 8 a.m. Wednesday, Shorrosh was charged with first-degree attempted arson, Beedy said. He remained at the Baldwin County Corrections Center on Wednesday evening. Bail had been set at $25,000.

In recent years, Shorrosh has given talks at several local churches about attacks on Christians by militant Muslims. He is the author of 10 books including “Islam Revealed” and “Islam: a Threat or a Challenge.” His Web site, www.islam-in-focus.com, says Shorrosh was born in Nazareth, “hometown of Jesus Christ,” and worked as an evangelist in the Middle East in the early 1960s.

Questions posed in a news release about one of his books include: “Can Muhammad be blamed, the Quran (Koran) or both for the violence of Islam? Will devoted American Muslim citizens support the Constitution or the Quran in the next few years of worldwide conflict with Islamic terrorism?”

Shorrosh has claimed that in 1989 he escaped three attempts on his life by Muslims in South Africa.

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