Two years ago, nine people and self-declared imams were arrested as
terror suspects at the Unaza e Re mosque, but the Albanian Muslim
Community doesn’t control it yet.
The self-declared imam of this mosque, Genc Balla, was sentenced to 17 years in prison, and was replaced by another imam who has not been recognized by the Muslim Community yet.
Imam Armand Ali: I said I don’t give interviews because small sentences are given another meaning.
TCH: I cannot change it. I only want to know your relation with the Muslim Community.
Armand Ali: I have been attacked by the Muslim Community for three years.
TCH: Are you a self-declared imam? Does the Community recognize you?
Armand Ali: They say I am self-declared. The Mosque is not from the Muslim Community, so that I can be self-declared to them.
TCH: Has this situation affected the devotees coming here?
Armand Ali: It may affect those who guard themselves from public opinion.
TCH: Why are they guarded by the public opinion?
Armand Ali: I will not speak about anything. I am ready for a confrontation with the Gulenist representatives of the Albanian Muslim Community.
TCH: Why are people afraid of the public opinion?
Armand Ali: They are not afraid at all!
TCH: Why are they affected?
Armand Ali: Take those from the Muslim community and we can talk.
While some of the devotees prayed this Friday in peace, the rest did not welcome the cameras. They say that the arrests of 2014 were because of the media.
“This is my property. Why are you filming?”, one of them told the cameraman.
The devotees are especially irritated after the recent arrests in Shkoder, since those persons also frequented their mosque. Medat Hasani, for example, had been to this mosque a few hours before being arrested.
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