Massachusetts AG Cautions Town Against Vote On Proposed Muslim Cemetery

File -- In this April 12, 2016 file photo Desiree Moninski, stands on land located across from her house in Dudley, Mass., which is the site of a proposed Muslim cemetery. Federal prosecutors have opened an investiga... File -- In this April 12, 2016 file photo Desiree Moninski, stands on land located across from her house in Dudley, Mass., which is the site of a proposed Muslim cemetery. Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether civil rights laws were violated by the town of Dudley that has rejected plans for the Muslim cemetery. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File) MORE LESS
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DUDLEY, Mass. (AP) — The Massachusetts attorney general’s office is cautioning town officials against holding a town-wide vote on a proposal for a Muslim cemetery on abandoned farmland.

Genevieve Nadeau, the civil rights chief for Attorney General Maura Healey, says that under state law, a community — in this case, the town of Dudley — can’t “prohibit, regulate, or restrict the use of land or structures for religious purposes.”

The warning comes months after Jay Talerman, a lawyer for the Islamic Society of Greater Worcester, said the Dudley Board of Selectmen turned down the group’s proposal to use 55 acres of farmland for the cemetery.

The board held a closed-door meeting Friday to discuss the Dec. 1 letter.

Talerman tells The Boston Globe an agreement hasn’t been reached but the “selectmen are moving in the right direction.”

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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