Jamal Iweida, the ex-President of the Belfast Islamic Centre, was found to have lied in his evidence to an Industrial Tribunal, during which he claimed he was blocked by the OFMDFM in appointing the man as a director of the mosque.

Now the BIC has been ordered to pay more than £13,000 in compensation to a man after it was found he was the victim of sexual and racial discrimination.

The tribunal found that Nasir Ali Akhonzada had been denied a job as director of the Belfast mosque because he had supported his own wife in a separate sexual and racial discrimination case against the BIC.

Mr Akhonzada was interviewed for the post and was selected, unknown to him, as a reserve candidate.

But when the successful candidate did not fill the role, he was STILL not handed the job.

The then president of the BIC, Mr Iweida, told him that the OFMDFM - which funds the centre - had to approve the appointment.

He went on to tell the tribunal that an official in the OFMDFM had told he could NOT appoint Mr Akhonzada.

However, senior OFMDFM officials denied any recollection of a meeting or phone calls in which Mr Iweida claimed the matter had been discussed and he had been told not to give Mr Akhonzada the job.

Said the tribunal chairwoman: "Mr Iweida told the tribunal that the (BIC) wished to appoint the claimant but was prevented from so doing.

"The tribunal has found that Mr Iweida was not telling the truth in this regard and therefore this was not the true reason why the claimant was not appointed."

Elsewhere in the damning ruling, Mr Iweida's evidence was described as " evasive and inaccurate". The tribunal also found that a draft equal opportunities policy that had been drawn up for the centre by Mr Iweida was simply a device to secure funding from the Racial Equality Unit of the OFMDFM - but did not appear to have been adopted by the BIC's executive committee.

The tribunal ordered the BIC to pay £13,155 compensation to Mr Akhonzada, including £3,000 for injury to his feelings.

cmcguigan@belfasttelegraph.co.uk