Thursday, 4:30 PM
Local Muslim leaders declare victory after legal battle over mosque
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff
Muslim community leaders gathered to declare victory today in a long legal battle that threatened construction of a mosque in Roxbury and damaged relations between local Jewish and Islamic communities.
The Islamic Society of Boston dropped a defamation suit Tuesday against media outlets and Jewish advocacy groups that were accused of orchestrating a campaign to publish and broadcast defamatory statements about society leaders in an effort to halt mosque construction. The decision hinged on the dropping of another claim Tuesday by a Mission Hill resident seeking to stop construction.
"This is a time for healing," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the national Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, who was joined by more than a dozen Muslim community leaders, lawyers, and interfaith peace proponents.
Construction of the mosque's main sanctuary is expected to be finished within four to six months.
The David Project, a Jewish advocacy group named as a defendant in the defamation suit, maintained today that it continues to believe news stories published and broadcast about society leaders, mosque financing and potential links to suspected terrorist groups are true.
Some other Jewish leaders said the lawsuit had been a divisive force that had poisoned relations between Muslim and Jewish communities. Several said that with the lawsuit out of the way, they hope to build stronger ties with Boston's Muslim community.
