Man charged in Philadelphia mosque fire targeted it because it was a mosque, U.S. says

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - A Philadelphia man was indicted on federal charges accusing him of setting fire to a mosque last month in what prosecutors described as a deliberate attack on the building's religious identity, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Vincent Lang, 60, is charged with one count of malicious damage by fire to a building used in interstate commerce and one count of damage to religious real property, according to the department. The indictment alleges that Lang targeted the Northeast Philadelphia Islamic Center "because of the religious character of that property, that is, because it was a mosque."

Authorities said Lang was taken into federal custody shortly after the July 5 fire, which broke out in the early hours at the mosque. Local reports at the time said no one was injured.

The case is being handled under federal statutes that allow for enhanced penalties when a crime is motivated by religious bias. If convicted, Lang could receive between five and 40 years in prison, according to the DOJ. A representative for Lang could not be reached for comment.

The charges come at a time when civil rights advocates have repeatedly warned about a climate of heightened anti-Muslim hostility, driven by everything from anti-immigration rhetoric and white supremacy to the reverberations of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Advocacy groups have documented spikes in bias incidents and mosque vandalism in recent years.

Federal prosecutors did not say whether any additional hate-crime charges could be filed, but the existing indictment already frames the fire as an act aimed at the mosque's religious character, a designation that could carry significant weight at sentencing.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Christopher Cushing)