A former spokesman of a Geneva mosque has contested Switzerland's ban on the construction of new minarets at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the Court's press service said on Wednesday.
Switzerland recently voted at a national referendum to ban the construction of new minarets, sparking worldwide protests among Muslims.
A total of 57.5% eligible voters and 22 out of 26 Swiss cantons backed the initiative aimed at stopping the "Islamization of Switzerland" put forward by the rightist Swiss People's Party (SVP) that the government and parliament had rejected earlier.
Hafid Ouardiri said earlier that five lawyers will represent his interest in court. The lawyers claim that if they win the trial, the ban will be lifted.
The ban is believed to have caused an outflow of Arab investment from Switzerland, but the authorities assured the Muslim community that the vote result is not directed against the country's Muslims, constituting some 400,000 people in the total population of 7.7 million.
The Strasbourg Court's press service did not mention when the lawsuit will be considered.
