Congregants of Baku´s Juma mosque are refusing to pray together with a new imam appointed by the Caucasus Muslims´ Office (QMI) in protest of the forcible evection of the Juma mosque congregation from the building on Wednesday. (03 JUNE 2004)

Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, the head of the congregation and chairman of local NGO “DEVAMM “, said the mosque goers are unwilling to recognize the new imam since he had been appointed illegally.

Ibrahimoglu, a known rights activist who has got a suspended sentence on charges of participating in the last October´s riots in Baku between opposition and police, said as QMI is not a state body, but a non-governmental organization, the latter has no right to appoint an imam to the mosque.

Ibrahimoglu said the members of his congregation were forced out of the mosque after they finished evening pray on Wednesday. But police did not let them in Thursday morning, Ibrahimoglu told Turan.

Appeal to believers

The dissident imam has called upon the believers to be patient and not go to any confrontation with police. Ibrahimoglu said the believers are adamant to fight for what he called their violated religious rights.

“Depriving believers from coming to a mosque is something like depriving them of air, water,” Ibrahimoglu told reporters on Wednesday. “I will stay and do my namaz (Islamic pray) here. If these believers want me to be their imam, this is their right.”

Ibrahimoglu said he would fight for the believers´ religious rights by all civil, non-violent and lawful means, adding that he has already appealed to the European Court about the court ruling that demands Juma congregants to leave the mosque.

Court desicion

Baku´s Sabayil District court ruled in early March to evict the congregation members from the mosque, convicting them of illegal occupation of the building. But the Juma congregants dismiss the conviction, saying that the court ruling is an ordered one and that it is politically motivated.

Mosque background

The Juma mosque, built in the 15th century, was used as a warehouse and then as a carpet museum under Soviet rule. Its original status was restored only in 1992, after Azerbaijan gained independence from the former Soviet Union.