tailfins
10-09-2012, 11:44 AM
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/after-attacks-and-threats-tennessee-mosque-opens/
The mosque faced arson, vandalism and a court battle before it cleared (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/us/tennessee-mosque-is-expected-to-open-this-week.html) a final step when it passed inspection this week and was given a temporary certificate of occupancy for 30 days.
During its expansion, vandals painted ”not welcome” on construction signs at the mosque and set fire to construction equipment, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies are investigating as a possible hate crime.
In June of this year, a Texas man was indicted on charges that he left messages threatening to detonate a bomb at the center on Sept. 11. And in May, a county judge ruled that the construction plans had not received sufficient comment from the public and that an occupancy permit could not be granted. Federal prosecutors filed a discrimination lawsuit, and a federal judge ruled in the mosque’s favor last month.
residents testified that Islam was not a religion and that the center was part of a plot to replace the Constitution with Shariah law, the legal code of Islam. A protest and counterprotest drew nearly 800 people, and a local Republican candidate for Congress tried to link the center to Hamas.
It was the second such arson attack on that mosque. The first was on July 4, and the F.B.I. later released a video of the suspect wanted in that attack.
The mosque faced arson, vandalism and a court battle before it cleared (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/us/tennessee-mosque-is-expected-to-open-this-week.html) a final step when it passed inspection this week and was given a temporary certificate of occupancy for 30 days.
During its expansion, vandals painted ”not welcome” on construction signs at the mosque and set fire to construction equipment, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies are investigating as a possible hate crime.
In June of this year, a Texas man was indicted on charges that he left messages threatening to detonate a bomb at the center on Sept. 11. And in May, a county judge ruled that the construction plans had not received sufficient comment from the public and that an occupancy permit could not be granted. Federal prosecutors filed a discrimination lawsuit, and a federal judge ruled in the mosque’s favor last month.
residents testified that Islam was not a religion and that the center was part of a plot to replace the Constitution with Shariah law, the legal code of Islam. A protest and counterprotest drew nearly 800 people, and a local Republican candidate for Congress tried to link the center to Hamas.
It was the second such arson attack on that mosque. The first was on July 4, and the F.B.I. later released a video of the suspect wanted in that attack.