Man faces jail after having funeral prayer read for woman who rejected him

ISTANBUL

A man faces between three months and one year in jail for having an imam announce the death of a woman via the loudspeaker of a mosque in Istanbul’s Çekmeköy neighborhood, despite the woman being alive, daily Habertürk has reported.

In order to take “revenge” after the woman rejected him, the 48-year-old man convinced the imam in in May 2014 to announce her death from the mosque’s minarets in May 2014, claiming to the imam that she had died.

Upon hearing her death from the speakers on the mosque’s minaret, a relative went to the woman’s house, where she was shocked to find her alive.

The 43 year-old woman, announced as dead, went to the police to file a complaint, saying she suspected the 48-year-old man as responsible.

In Islamic belief, when a local passes away, the death is announced by an imam via a mosque’s speakers to the surrounding community. The funeral announcement, (“sela” in Turkish), is usually made in a mosque near where the deceased lived or where they were from, and gives the details of their funeral.

An investigation was opened into the issue in Çekmeköy, during which the man confessed that he had asked the imam of a local mosque to announce the woman’s death.

“I called the imam of the mosque where she lives and told him that she was dead. I asked him to announce her death, which he did. Because she is dead for me, I did this out of a moment of anger,” the man said, adding that he was involved with the woman for two years but the two had sued each other after the relationship ended.

The man faces between three months and one year in jail on the grounds of “destroying an individuals’ peace and tranquility,” according to the indictment presented to the court.

The imam, meanwhile, said he had “only done his job,” as he believed the man’s claims.