Veenendaal mosque has NTA report confiscated

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September 22, 2023
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The Veenendaal mosque Taubah was surreptitiously investigated by research agency NTA in 2018 at the behest of the municipality. The municipality refused to give the mosque insight into the NTA report. The mosque has now had this report seized, through the courts.

September 22, 2023

Reason
In October 2021, NRC revealed that several Dutch municipalities had commissioned secret investigations into mosques in their cities without cause. With money provided by the NCTV, they hired NTA which – without making itself known – spoke with visitors, administrators and imams. Such investigations are not allowed and are discriminatory because they target only Muslims.

The secret investigations have had a huge impact, not only on the mosques investigated, but also on the Islamic community in the Netherlands. The investigations show a great distrust from the community towards the Islamic part of its own citizens. It has created a major breach of trust with the government that has still not been repaired.

Mosque takes first legal step
The mosque and mosque-goers have a right to know what has been written about them. However, the Veenendaal municipality refuses to be open. Whereas several municipalities, and recently the Ministry of Social Affairs, apologized, the Veenendaal municipality says it acted correctly. Bilal Riani director of mosque Taubah says: “As a mosque we have always been open to the municipality. It is therefore incomprehensible that they investigated us in secret. We have indicated that we first want to know what happened before we can work to recover. The municipality refuses to do that.”

That is why mosque Taubah is now trying to get the truth out through the courts. The mosque in Veenendaal has obtained permission from the judge to seize evidence from the NTA report. Evidence seizure is a legal means of securing evidence and preventing it from being destroyed. Yesterday the attachment was placed by the bailiff. After this, the mosque will have to file a separate lawsuit to gain access to the documents that were seized.

Contact
Mosque Taubah is being assisted in these proceedings by the human rights lawyers of PILP and by attorneys Elsa van de Loo (Advocatenkantoor van de Loo) and Paul Tjiam (Simmons & Simmons LLP).

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