(NEWS NATION USA) Leaders of a northern Mississippi city were motivated by anti-Muslim prejudice when they rejected a zoning request for what would be the first mosque in the area, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi sued on behalf of the two Muslim men who want to build the mosque, the Abraham House of God, in the city of Horn Lake. The action was brought in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, says CBS Jackson, Mississippi affiliate WJTV.
Earlier this year, the Horn Lake planning commission recommended that the site plan for the mosque be denied, and the Board of Aldermen voted 5-1 in April to uphold that recommendation. Aldermen said they denied the application because of concerns about insufficient water supply for fire sprinklers and the possibility of traffic and noise.
