Judge wants imam to prove he's fixing buildings

A judge has demanded an imam who wants to build a mosque near New York's ground zero produce documents proving he's making repairs at two northern New Jersey apartment buildings he owns.

State Superior Court Judge Thomas Olivieri told a lawyer for Feisal Abdul Rauf to submit the documents by Thursday afternoon.

Attorney Tomas Espinosa told the judge some work is under way at the buildings in Union City, which is just across the Hudson River from New York and has about 70,000 residents.

Rauf didn't attend Wednesday's hearing.

Union City sued this week, claiming Rauf ignored safety violations at the buildings. The lawsuit claims Rauf didn't fix 12 fire code violations the year before one building caught fire. It says parts of the other building didn't have electricity, smoke detectors or fire alarms.

The court denied Union City's request to have a court-appointed monitor oversee the property, which the city says is riddled with serious code violations that haven't been addressed, in some cases for years. But the judge said he would revisit the request Sept. 23 after the city has had time to review Rauf's submissions.

Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan, "have been under a lot of stress," attorney Tomas Espinosa said after the hearing. "They will prove to be honorable people when the final decisions of the court are made," he added.

Espinosa said he had not had direct contact with Rauf since the complaint was filed Monday but had been in touch with Khan. Neither attended the hearing, and Rauf did not answer the phone at his home in neighboring North Bergen. He has not commented on the complaint.