80°
The Town of North Hempstead will shell out $150,000 in damages to Hillside Islamic Center and $400,000 to the mosque’s Manhattan-based law firm, Linklaters, according to the agreement filed Friday, April 17 in New York’s Eastern District.
Hillside Islamic Center filed the federal suit in March, after North Hempstead leaders blocked the mosque’s expansion plans. The suit said while HIC met all requirements and made various concessions to town leaders, the plans were blocked anyways.
“As [Hillside Islamic Center] addressed each concern, the objections did not disappear — they changed form,” the suit read. “Increasingly, the issue was not what HIC proposed, but who HIC was. Congregants were called ‘strangers.’ Their presence was treated as an intrusion. Their worship was criticized for being too public, too visible, too different.”
About one month after the lawsuit, North Hempstead and Hillside Islamic Center agreed to a modified expansion plan, leading to the settlement documents. Neither side admitted wrongdoing in the agreement.
Linklaters also represented another Long Island mosque in a similar dispute. In that case, the Town of Oyster Bay also settled with Masjid Al-Baqi, a Bethpage mosque, but had to pay $5 million, according to prior reporting from Newsday.
"We are proud of our client’s perseverance in seeking the equal treatment guaranteed by law," Linklaters partner Muhammad Faridi said of the HIC agreement. "With this settlement, they can finally practice their faith in an adequate house of worship and begin a new chapter in harmony with their neighbors."
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hempstead and receive free news updates.
