Boston City Councilor Jerry McDermott imminently intends to call for a public hearing on the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s sale of land in Roxbury for the construction of a large mosque to the Islamic Society of Boston, which has been dogged by charges of links to Islamic extremists.

The hearing comes at the urging of the lawyer for the David Project, the pro-Israel group currently being sued by the ISB for defamation, who sent a letter to McDermott and local media earlier this month alleging that the ISB trustees’ current president had signed a petition in support of the pre-trial release of Abdulrahman Alamoudi. The founder of the ISB in 1982, Alamoudi is now in prison in Saudi Arabia on terrorism funding-related charges.

Lawyers for the BRA and the ISB had rebuffed McDermott’s request to participate in hearings in April, citing pending litigation in a lawsuit brought by a Mission Hill resident over charges that the BRA violated the separation of church and state in selling the land for the mosque at a below-market price in exchange for several services, including a lecture series on Islam, to be provided by the ISB.

“I understand if folks at the BRA can only answer limited questions, but I also think it’s fair to provide the opportunity to come in and ask questions,” said McDermott, who chairs the Post-Audit and Oversight committee. “I think the public, as well as any elected official, has the right to ask questions concerning whether the sale of this public parcel was handled properly and whether the sale price was in the taxpayers’ best interest,” McDermott said, adding that he intends to file the request for a hearing after the first of the year.

ISB lawyer Albert Farrah said that the ISB will not participate in hearings. “Any legitimate issues that have been raised about the transactions between the BRA and the ISB will be resolved before a court of law, not before Councilor McDermott’s subcommittee,” he said.

A spokesperson for the BRA did not return the Advocate’s calls.

BRA documents support the claim, made by McDermott and other ISB critics, that the BRA land deal was consummated in and is being financed by money from the Middle East. According to the documents, three of the ISB’s six trustees reside in Arab Gulf states, one in Qatar; two in Saudi Arabia. Their signatures for deeds and other documents related to the sale were signed and notarized at the U.S. consulates in those countries...

"...Although we are of different faiths, we are your brothers and sisters. We are your friends and neighbors. We have children and we have hopes that our children will live in a society that is open and tolerant of all. Like you, we are not perfect. We have among us those who would act in a divisive manner. We understand our obligation not to tolerate this in our own community. But when we are the ones who are wronged by intolerance, we need to be able to look to our friends and neighbors to stand up with is and condemn those attacking us.

In the hope of reaching out to all fair and open-minded people in the Greater Boston community, we ask you not to buy into the poisoned rhetoric and attacks against our community undertaken by the few extremists who would divide us. If you hae a concern about the lawsuit we have filed, we urge you to please take the time to read it and judge for yourself its contents. Copies are available from the Islamic Society of Boston at the above address, or on our website: www.isboston.org. Please take the time to learn the truth before condemning us for trying to protect our community and loved ones from further attack..."