![]() ![]() ![]() District Court in Detroit, the township has agreed to permit the academy to construct a school, to treat the school and all other religious groups equally and to publicize its nondiscrimination policies and practices, federal officials said. Justice Department also filed a lawsuit against the township on behalf of the academy in October 2015 and announced Thursday it also tentatively settled its case with the township.Īs part of the government settlement, which must still be approved by the U.S. “In a year when so much has gone wrong for the Muslim community, this settlement is an example of the good things that can happen when Muslim communities stand up for their rights,” said Gadeir Abbas, who served as co-counsel on the case. “We welcome the settlement with Pittsfield Township and hope the outcome of this case will serve as a deterrent to other municipalities throughout the country seeking to deny Muslim institutions the right to build or expand their facilities on the basis of religion,” said Lena Masri, CAIR-MI’s legal director. The act protects individuals, houses of worship and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning and landmarking laws.ĬAIR-MI said the settlement, one of the largest since the act was enacted, grants the academy the right to build a 70,000-square-foot Islamic school, a residential development consisting of 22 duplex units and three single-family homes and a park. The Muslim Community Association sued the township in 2012, claiming it violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act when township officials refused to allow the Michigan Islamic Academy to build a school on vacant township property it owned. An Islamic academy in Ann Arbor has reached a $1.7 million tentative settlement with Pittsfield Township for denying it the right to build a school on its property, according to the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. ![]()
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