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| The construction site of Darul Emman Kyungpook Islamic Center in Buk District in Daegu is seen in this Jan. 31 photo. / Courtesy of Darul Emman Kyungpook Islamic Center |
By Lee Hae-rin
A local court in Daegu has decided that a district office's administrative measure to halt the construction of a mosque, due to civil complaints, should be annulled because it is unjust and had procedural flaws.
The Daegu District Court, Wednesday, ruled in favor of the Islamic community there that has sought to build the Darul Emman Kyungpook Islamic Center ― a move that brought protests from those who fear the possibility of a bigger Islamic presence in the area.
Daegu's Buk District Office, which initially approved the construction in September last year, issued an administrative order to halt it in February following the backlash.
The court said that the order had grave procedural flaws. "The district office did not notify the plaintiffs in advance that the construction of the mosque would be halted and which legal basis was being applied for this. It also did not give them a chance to offer their opinion about the order. These are against the law on administrative procedures," it said.
It also doesn't seem that the plaintiffs or the builder violated any laws on construction while working on the project, so the administrative order was made without any legal grounds, the court said.
"The procedural flaws were very grave, so the administrative issue is beyond cancellation but is invalid."
The mosque owners, the Muslim community there and civic groups supporting the construction project welcomed the court's ruling.
"The regional court ruled for the resumption of the mosque's construction, but the district has yet to make an official statement on withdrawing the order it had issued. We demand the withdrawal and an apology from the office to the Muslims who were hurt by the order," Seo Chang-ho, the head of a civic group supporting the establishment of an anti-discrimination law in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, told The Korea Times, Thursday.
"Also, the district office needs to take an active role in winning over the residents of Daehyeon-dong who are opposing the mosque construction, and to compensate the financial loss caused by the suspension of the construction," Seo said.
"We (the Muslim community in Daehyeon-dong) still consider the neighbors with as much respect as before the clash started," Muaz Razaq, a students at Kyungbook National University who is the spokesperson of the school's Muslim community, told The Korea Times, Thursday.
"It is our religious obligation to treat our neighbors very kindly. We went to court because we were forced to go to court. We don't want our neighbors to suffer because of us. If there are concerns, we are ready to listen, but if they ask us to move out of the district, that is not the solution, because we have to coexist."
The Buk District Office approved the construction which began in December 2020. However, it met resistance from some residents in the area.
Then the district issued the order halting the project in February. In response, the Islamic community filed a suit with the court as well as a petition to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) with accusations of Islamophobia and discrimination.
In October, the NHRCK recommended that the office take measures to resume the halted construction project and stated that its cause for issuing the order was invalid, as well as based on prejudice against Muslims.
