http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/aceh-man-stands-by-lawsuit-against-loud-mosque-speakers/573384
Aceh Man Stands By Lawsuit Against Loud Mosque Speakers Jakarta Globe | February 22, 2013 A 75-year-old man in Aceh has filed a controversial lawsuit against local religious officials alleging that the noise from a nearby mosque’s six loudspeakers has negatively impacted his life. Sayed Hassan originally filed the lawsuit against the Al Muchlisin mosque, the Aceh Religious Affairs office, Ulema Consultative Assembly (MPU) Aceh, Islamic Sharia Agency, and the Gampong Jawa village chief in December of 2012, according to Tempo.co. Sayed claimed that the Al Muchlisin mosque, which is located 100 meters from his home in Gampong Jawa village, Banda Aceh, began broadcasting sermons from Baiturrahman radio twenty minutes before morning and evening prayers. He reportedly asked the Imam to turn the volume down, but he refused. Sayed responded with the lawsuit. Hundreds of residents in Gampong Jawa were outraged after the matter made it to the Banda Aceh district court on Feb. 11. They demanded Sayed apologize for filing the suit and withdraw his claim. Sayed told the local news portal Aceh.Tribunnews.com that he was sorry and would withdraw his case. “I’m sorry for my mistake,” he wrote. “If I repeat it, I agree to be ousted from this village.” But on Thursday, he told Tempo.co that villagers forced him to issue the statement. He had no plans to withdraw the lawsuit. The mosque, he said, continued to broadcast loud sermons at 4:30 a.m. “This problem has not been solved,” he told Tempo.co on Thursday. Banda Aceh’s deputy mayor said Sayed had no basis for filing the lawsuit. The man’s house, he said, is too far to be impacted by the loudspeakers. “This is the first such case in Aceh and it is strange because the house of the plaintiff is located far from the mosque,” Deputy Mayor Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
