‘Mentally ill’ woman faces jail for taking dog into mosque

Animal dies after being hit by car following arrest of distressed woman

The woman is seen in the mosque with a dog and with her shoes on her feet (Twitter/screengrab)

A woman who brought a dog into a mosque in Indonesia is facing a jail sentence for blasphemy, despite doctors saying she requires psychiatric care.

The Indonesian woman, who says she is Catholic in a video recording of the incident, has been arrested and charged with blasphemy by police in the city of Bogor, south of the capital Jakarta.

She entered the mosque with the dog and wearing her shoes and remonstrated with Muslim worshippers, apparently over the subject of her ex-husband’s second marriage.

Muslims remove their shoes before entering mosques, and many believe dogs to be ritually impure.

In the video, the visibly distressed woman claims her husband will be married in the mosque later that day. She demands an explanation from people in the mosque who apparently have no idea about the purported wedding plans.

Bogor police chief Andi Mochammad Dicky Pastika said the woman was a blasphemy suspect and that an investigation was continuing.

He said evidence included the video recording, testimony from five witnesses and the woman’s shoes.

Blasphemy is a criminal offence in Indonesia with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The woman currently remains detained at a police hospital, but doctors have recommended she is transferred to a psychiatric facility.

Her identity has not been disclosed. The hospital has said sending the woman to a specialised facility would let her be closer to her family and make it easier to communicate with her.

A police spokesperson said the woman’s family had provided letters from two hospitals stating she had a history of mental illness.

The police said they would conduct a psychological evaluation to verify the hospitals’ statements, according to the Jakarta Post.

Amnesty International said the blasphemy case was “unfortunate and absurd” and highlighted why Indonesia’s blasphemy law, which is often used to persecute religious minorities, should be overhauled.

“The state’s priority should be her wellbeing. Her actions may have felt insensitive, but these issues can be resolved peacefully, it is not a matter for the courts,” said Amnesty’s executive director in Indonesia, Usman Hamid.

The dog was chased out of the mosque but died on Tuesday when it was hit by a car as members of an animal welfare group attempted to capture it.

Last year a court in Sumatra sentenced a woman who complained about the volume of a mosque’s loudspeakers to 18 months in prison for blasphemy. She was released on parole in May.

Mobs burned and ransacked at least 14 Buddhist temples in Tanjung Balai, a port town on Sumatra, in a July 2016 riot following reports of the woman’s comments.

Additional reporting by AP