European Court Dismisses Challenges To Switzerland's Minaret Ban

The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday dismissed two challenges to Switzerland's constitutional amendment that bans the building of minarets. (See prior posting.)  A press release on the cases described the court's reasoning in rejecting the petitions that claim the ban was in violation of Arts. 9 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.  Art. 34 of the Convention allow challenges to be brought only by someone who is a "victim" of a violation of the Convention by one of the countries that is a party to it.  The court concluded that applicants here had not claimed that they planned to build a mosque with a minaret in the near future. The court's full opinions in La Ligue des Musulmans de Suisse v. ls Suisse and Ouardiri v.ls Suisse, (ECHR, June 28, 2011), are available in French. SwissInfo reported on the decisions.