Muslim groups take Belgium's controversial laws to top European rights court

Organisations representing the Muslim community in Belgium have challenged a law in the Flemish region to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on grounds that it violates freedom of religion and worship.

According to a statement by the Belgian Religious Foundation on Thursday, the petition was submitted under the umbrella organisation of the Belgian Islamic Coordination Board, which includes the Belgian Muslim Union, the Belgian Islamic Federation and the Federation of Belgian Albanian Mosques.

The Flemish law in question was adopted in October 2021 and it includes "regulating the recognition of local religious communities, the obligations of religious authorities, the supervision of these obligations, and on the material organisation and operation of recognised places of worship."

The organisations objected to the new law before the Constitutional Court and their objections were found justified on the grounds that the law violated the freedom of religion and worship.

'Legal insecurity'

The court said it annulled articles 7, 9, 16 and 17 of the law as the regulations were found to be contrary to the freedom of religion and worship.

The top court said it overturned the laws, which prohibited places of worship from establishing direct or indirect relations with the organisation of another country, obtaining direct or indirect financing from another country, and clergy from receiving salaries from another country.

However, organisations representing the Muslim community did not find this sufficient and took the articles that were not annulled to the ECHR on the grounds that they constituted "legal insecurity."

These sections include items such as prohibiting mosque imams from being members of associations that have relations with other countries and monitoring religious communities.