By Mehmet Hatipoglu
01 July 2019•Update: 01 July 2019
KOMOTINI, Greece
Three people were arrested in northeastern Greece for building a Muslim prayer room, according to a local Muslim official.
Ilyaz Gundogan Ahmetoglu, the imam of the Drosero (Serin Mahalle) neighborhood in the city of Xanthi, was arrested last week along with two other people, Ahmet Hraloglu, a local Muslim cleric, told Anadolu Agency on Sunday.
Xanthi is part of Greece’s Western Thrace region, which has a population of some 150,000 Muslim Turks dating back centuries.
Hraloglu said the three were arrested while trying to add a small section to a prefabricated structure to be used as a prayer room.
He added that the prefab structure was meant to house the neighborhood's culture association.
Hraloglu said the arrests were made for unauthorized construction.
The arrestees were released by a court on condition that the group's administrators get the necessary construction permits and documents within a month.
Hraloglu said the court warned that if work continues without authorization, they could face a fine of up to €50,000.
He added that Drosero lacks a proper mosque, forcing local Muslims to do their obligatory prayers at makeshift sites.
* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet.
