A Muslim man is mounting a legal challenge over a prohibition on edging, or borders, around individual graves in his local cemetery, saying that the ban breaches his right to freedom of religion.
Atta Ul-Haq has been granted permission for a judicial review of Walsall council’s policy on the basis that it is a matter of public interest.
Ul-Haq’s father was buried in the Muslim section of Streetly cemetery in Walsall in 2015. Newer sections of the cemetery are “lawn only”, the graves marked only with headstones and not surrounded by borders. Edgings and flowerbeds have been prohibited apart from in a section that has children’s graves.
The policy has triggered protests by members of the Muslim community because the Islamic faith forbids people from stepping on a person’s grave. [The Guardian] Read more
