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| US Islamic school wins lengthy legal battle to set up facility in Michigan |
| 2016-10-04 |
| [MIDDLEEASTEYE.NET] An Islamic school in Michigan has been awarded $1.7m after settling its lawsuit for the right to build a new facility, following a five-year legal battle that those involved say paves the way for Moslem-Americans across the country to protect their rights. The Michigan Islamic Academy (MIA) brought a lawsuit against Pittsfield Township, in the midwestern US state of Michigan, arguing that it was unlawfully denied the right to build a school on its property. The school used the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which protects individuals and religious institutions against discrimination in zoning, and the Establishment and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution. Last week, the MIA announced the township agreed to settle the lawsuit for $1.7m. The academy also has the green light to build a 70,000-square-foot facility, a residential development consisting of 22 duplex units and three single-family homes, and a park. "The community in general is elated by the settlement," said Dawud Walid, executive director at the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations ... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm ... (CAIR ...designated a terrorist group by the UAE... -MI), which brought the lawsuit. Walid told Middle East Eye the local Moslem community has grown substantially in the last 25 years, and the current MIA facility is overcrowded and does not meet the community’s current needs. "That was the whole purpose of buying the property to establish a new school because the current location is simply too small for the current needs of the community, much less the expected growth of Moslems in that part of Michigan," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |