Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: European Court of human rights

Date: 12/20/2007

Subject: The Court decided, by 14 votes to three, to strike out the application because the case had been resolved, in that Lamaiz El Majjaoui now had a work permit and temporary residence permit allowing him to work as the imam for a mosque in Flushing, the Netherlands. The applicants complained about the refusal to give Mr El Majjaoui a work permit in order for him to work as imam for the application foundation, relying on Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) and Article 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) of the Convention. Article 9 and 18 The Court noted that it was not in doubt that there was no longer any question of the applicant being prevented from working as imam of the mosque operated by the applicant foundation or of the foundation not being allowed to employ him in that capacity. Concerning whether the measures taken by the authorities constituted sufficient redress for the applicants’ complaint, the Court considered that the mere fact that the applicant foundation had to comply with certain requirements before it was able to employ the applicant did not as such raise an issue under Article 9. That article did not guarantee foreign nationals a right to obtain a residence permit for the purposes of taking up employment in one of the States which had ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, even if the employer was a religious association. Since a work permit had been granted and the applicant was now lawfully employed by the applicant foundation, the Court considered, in the light of all the relevant circumstances of the case, that the applicants’ complaints had been adequately and sufficiently remedied. Finding that the matter giving rise to their complaints could therefore be considered to have been “resolved”, the Court decided to strike out the application from its list of cases. Judges Zupančič, Zagrebelsky and Myjer expressed a joint dissenting opinion, which is annexed to the judgment.

Parties: El Majjaoui et Stichting Touba Moskee c/ Paesi Bassi

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 10 Freedom of thought - Freedom of conscience - Freedom of religion