Trial told of Muslim power dispute

Details of a deep rift among members of a Muslim association in Hong Kong, prompted by the death of its founder in 2009, were revealed in the High Court yesterday.

On the opening day of a defamation case, the court heard that after Mohamed Alli Din, who founded the United Muslim Association of Hong Kong, died in December 2009, a "power vacuum" emerged. The leadership of the association faltered, with many members of the council of management either failing to turn up to meetings or attending only occasionally, according to lawyers for the defendants.

The association was established in 1997 as a charitable institution and operated a primary school and a home for elderly Muslims in the New Territories.

On February 7, 2010, shortly after Din died, some members of the association - the plaintiffs in the defamation case - held what they said was its annual general meeting and voted for a new council of management.

But other members - the defendants - claimed this meeting was illegal and invalid because the meeting was not held by the elected council of management.

In February 2012, the plaintiffs published a notice for another annual general meeting to be held the following month to ratify and approve the results of the 2010 meeting.

Before the March meeting, the defendants - including Amina Norman, the widow of Alli Din - published a notice that said the plaintiffs were not legitimate members of the association.