ISLAM: FIRST PUBLIC MUSLIM CEMETERY IN STRASBOURG
(ANSAmed) - PARIS - The first publicly-run Muslim cemetery is
to be established in Strasbourg, fulfilling the expectations
of the city's Muslim community, which makes up 10% of the
population.
A convention is to be signed today for the building of the
cemetery by Mayor Roland Ries, President of the National
Council for the Muslim Faith, Mohammed Moussaoui, and by
president of the Alsace Regional Council, Driss Ayachour. The
site has already been chosen, and soil studies carried out.
The cemetery should be open by the end of 2010.
There are already two Muslim cemeteries in France, one in
Marseilles, the city with the highest concentration of
immigrants, and the other in Bobigny, on the outskirts of
Paris, but both of these are privately-run.
The convention also includes maintenance of the sections
of the cemeteries in Strasbourg which have been reserved for
Muslims since 1973.(ANSAmed).