The Boston Mosque - The Plot Thickens!

*** UPDATED ***

I saw this over at Solomonia: In 2000, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) sold a piece of property in Roxbury, MA to the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) for $175K and "in-kind services" (lectures and books on Islam). The property was initially reported as being worth $400K.   That was bad enough - why does an organization that can build a $22 million mosque deserve a break from the City?  And since when does the City subsidize religious proselytizing?  An outraged Roxbury resident sued the BRA and the City over this.  Now it turns out, according to The Weekly Dig, that a few months before the deal, the BRA had assessed that property's value at over $2 million dollars. Yeeks! Now that's a sweet deal. 

Somebody's got some 'splainin' to do!

Read Dean Barnett's article from December 2005 in The Weekly Standard about the numerous lawsuits that the ISB has filed against its critics, and the funky background on the land deal.   

UPDATE: Another developement in today's (March 3, 2006) Boston Globe:

"An Islamic society that sued for defamation after local news outlets linked it and its stalled mosque project to anti-Semitic extremists offered Friday to stop litigation in exchange for private mediation. The Islamic Society of Boston made the offer to the defendants' attorneys on the same day it filed a lengthy response to a motion to dismiss the suit."

I don't know if the parties named in the lawsuit will be interested in mediation. I suspect they all want the lawsuit dropped completely.  These people have had to expend a lot of time and money to defend themselves, and no doubt this has been difficult emotionally.  I hope they successfully defend themselves and counter-sue to recoup their expenses, and set an example for other aggressive islamic groups (such as CAIR) who use our legal system to intimidate and silence their critics.   (But I'm not the person being sued.)  Stay tuned!

UPDATE 2: More on BRA dealings with the ISB:

"A top Boston Redevelopment Authority official who previously downplayed his role in the Roxbury mosque project of the Islamic Society of Boston assisted in the city's reduction of the price the mosque backers paid for the site from $2 million to $175,000, according to BRA documents that have surfaced in lawsuits over the controversial project.

"The official, Mohammad Ali-Salaam, the BRA's deputy director for planning, also raised funds for the project when he traveled to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as a representative of the city in 2000. The BRA board gave him permission to make the trip, which was paid for by the Islamic Society, but the BRA spokeswoman, Susan Elsbree, said yesterday that Ali-Salaam was not given permission to raise funds for the project while there."

No wonder the ISB wants to stop the litigation!