Call to prayer by mosque through a loud audio system cannot be considered as an irritating or disturbing noise believes Muslim-majority country Indonesia. A woman was sentenced on Tuesday to 18-month in jail after complaining about volume of a prayer.
The 44-year-old Meiliana is an ethnic Chinese Buddhist and is learned by the hearing she was found guilty of insulting Islam. She had asked her neighbourhood mosque to reduce the level of sound of the audio system as it was too loud and “hurt” her ears.
Indonesia has about 800,000 mosques and call to prayer is heard five times every day and everywhere in the country, either it is the biggest cities or else the smallest towns.
The court in which Meiliana was found guilty is in Medan city on Sumatra island. The verdict read that her comments triggered riots two years ago when angry Muslim mobs attacked several Buddhist temples. It led to the fleeing of some ethnic Chinese too from the area.
The archipelago has world’s biggest Muslim population. It has a total population of 260 million and about 90 percent of it is Muslims. There are six major recognized religions including Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism.
Meanwhile lawyer of Meiliana said would be appealing the decision as freedom of expression need to be guaranteed by law.
For long the rights groups in the country have campaigned against the blasphemy laws as those are usually misused to target minorities.
In 2015 the Vice President Jusuf Kalla urged people to turn down volume slightly.
