There will be a mosque in Copenhagen!

Iranian financial backing prompts calls from politicians to halt building of mosque in the capital

The new mosque to be built on Vibevej in Copenhagen’s North West district will be partially funded by Iranian sponsors, reports Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper.

The project is being headed by the Shia Muslim organisation Ahlul Bait and is expected to cost 50 million kroner. It was previously thought that the mosque would be funded solely by private donations from Danish Muslims.

The building’s architect, Bijan Eskandani, referred to a meeting in Tehran between the architect and financial backers in a letter to the City Council in May. Eskandani confirmed that about 15 million kroner of financing had been secured from ‘two or three rich Iranians’. He stressed the Iranian government was not providing any funding.

Integration spokespeople from both the Liberal and opposition Social Democrat parties have called for greater transparency when it comes to financing religious projects to ensure religious extremists and radicals are not involved.

The Danish People’s Party has gone one step further and called for the building of the mosque to be halted. The party has been a detractor of the project from the outset.