{"id":242958,"date":"2026-01-13T21:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T21:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/242958\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T21:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T21:24:07","slug":"retired-surgeon-ordered-to-pay-costs-of-high-court-case-over-south-dublin-islamic-centre-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/242958\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired surgeon ordered to pay costs of High Court case over South Dublin Islamic centre \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A retired surgeon must pay legal costs incurred by directors of the company behind the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland<\/a> after the doctor withdrew claims<\/a> of corporate criminality against the men, described by a High Court<\/a> judge as \u201cof the most serious kind\u201d of allegations he had come across.<\/p>\n

Dr Abdel Basset El-Sayed made allegations of fraud, theft and money laundering against the directors in his case, which arose from a dispute over the control of Al Maktoum Foundation CLG, the operator of the centre, in Clonskeagh, south Dublin. <\/p>\n

Dr El-Sayed, who said he served as a director of the foundation since 2012, had claimed in his action that the directors were unlawfully appointed to the foundation\u2019s board and sought to have them removed. In December, Dr El-Sayed agreed to withdraw the case.<\/p>\n

The directors, notice parties to the action, are Ahmad Tahlak, Hesham Abdulla Al Quassim, Khalifa Aldaboos, Mohamed Musabeh Dhahi and Zahid Jami. The men are residents in Dubai, but have their place of business as Roebuck Road, Clonskeagh.<\/p>\n

The mosque attached to the foundation\u2019s centre, a major place of worship for the Irish Muslim community, has been closed since the onset of the dispute last year. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Mr Justice David Nolan granted an order for legal costs against Dr El-Sayed following an application moved by Lyndon MacCann, appearing with barrister Niall \u00d3 hUiginn, for the directors. <\/p>\n

The directors are also seeking an order for costs against Joseph Sallabi, who previously claimed to act for the Al Maktoum Foundation in the case as its in-house counsel, and prepared, on Dr El-Sayed\u2019s behalf, sworn statements containing the allegations against the directors. The court adjourned this matter to a date in February.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0School closed due to dispute over control of Islamic cultural centre in Dublin, court hearsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Opposing Mr MacCann\u2019s application for costs, Robert Barron SC, appearing with barrister Roddy McConnell for Dr El-Sayed, submitted that his client was a man trying to do his best for his community and was not acting for his own benefit in taking the case. <\/p>\n

An order for costs against Dr El-Sayed would be unhelpful in attempts to bring the Irish Muslim community together to reopen the mosque in Clonskeagh, Mr Barron said, noting suspicions and mistrust within the community arising from the dispute. <\/p>\n

Counsel said that when Mr Sallabi \u201cgot involved\u201d in the case, \u201cthings went in an unfortunate direction\u201d. <\/p>\n

Mr Justice Nolan summarised Dr El-Sayed\u2019s position, noting the doctor asserted he \u201ccame under the influence\u201d of Mr Sallabi, and did not understand the full legal implications of the allegations advanced in his lawsuit. <\/p>\n

Mr MacCann said Mr Barron was asking the judge to make \u201chuge assumptions\u201d about the effect of a costs order on the Muslim community. Counsel said Mr El-Sayed did not immediately withdraw his allegations against the directors when Mr Sallabi withdrew his representation in the case. <\/p>\n

Ruling on the application for costs, Mr Justice Nolan concluded it was appropriate to make an order against Dr El-Sayed. The judge agreed to place a stay on the order until March. <\/p>\n

The judge said the allegations made by Dr El-Sayed against the directors in the case were \u201cmatters which would require the highest level of proof\u201d. He said the allegations were \u201cof the most serious kind that [he had] ever come across\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge noted the allegations were ultimately unproven and withdrawn. He said the allegations should never have been made in the first place.<\/p>\n

Noting Dr El-Sayed\u2019s professional standing as a doctor, he said it was \u201chard to credit\u201d the submission that Dr El-Sayed did not understand the gravity of the allegations levelled at the directors.<\/p>\n

Mr Justice Nolan also rejected Dr El-Sayed\u2019s submission that an order for costs would add \u201canother fracture\u201d to the Muslim community in Clonskeagh and beyond. The judge said it seemed to him that the litigation had \u201calready done that\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge said it was the court\u2019s \u201cfervent wish\u201d that the breakdown in relations within that community be remedied, stating that \u201cthe Muslim community is an important part of Irish society\u201d.<\/p>\n

Separately, a case brought by an imam arising from the mosque\u2019s closure was settled following talks between legal teams for the Islamic Cultural Foundation of Ireland CLG and the cleric.<\/p>\n

Imam Sheikh Hussein Halawa had brought an action against the foundation seeking his restoration to aspects of his position and duties at the Clonskeagh centre.<\/p>\n

Cl\u00edona Kimber SC, for Mr Halawa, told Mr Justice Nolan that the case had settled following a mutual agreement between the parties.<\/p>\n

Ms Kimber said that as part of the settlement, her client had agreed to give an undertaking to the court. The terms of the undertaking were not read in open court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A retired surgeon must pay legal costs incurred by directors of the company behind the Islamic Cultural Centre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,73,74865,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-242958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-high-court","tag-islamic-cultural-centre-of-ireland","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}