| Europe |
| German mosque must stop broadcasting call to prayer, court finds |
| 2018-02-04 |
| [YAHOO] A mosque in northwest Germany may no longer broadcast its Friday midday call to prayer by loudspeaker for now after a local court upheld a challenge by a couple who live nearly 1 km (1,000 yards) away. The Gelsenkirchen administrative court found that the town of Oer-Erkenschwick had not assessed the local Moslem community's request properly in 2013, but a court front man said on Friday that this did not prevent the mosque making a new application. The local Christian couple had argued that the call to prayers violated their own religious rights. Anti-Moslem sentiment and support for anti-immigration policies are growing in many parts of Germany after the influx of well over a million Huseyin Turgut, a bigwig with the affected mosque, said the court's decision was disappointing. "The call to prayer lasts for two minutes, just around 1 p.m., but only on Fridays," he said. "We've never had any complaints and we have German neighbors who are much closer - just 10 meters away." |
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