Meiliana, a 44-year-old Buddhist woman was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment by the Indonesian court after she was allegedly accused of offending Islam. This ethnic Chinese woman complained about the Muslims' call for prayer five times a day, claiming that the prayers chanted were too loud at the mosque near her residence in north Sumatra, Indonesia.
The accused burst into tears as the judge, Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo sentenced her to jail on Tuesday while she was escorted from the court with the handcuffs on.
The prosecutors alleged that she had violated the country's criminal code by committing profanity against Islam.
The recent years have seen a rise in conventional and hard line criticisms against Islam, threatening the secular nation’s long-standing respect for tolerance and diversity.