Tourist jailed for 3 Months in Myanmar for silencing sermon

A Myanmar court has sentenced a Dutch citizen to three months in prison for interfering with a religious observance by unplugging an amplifier blasting a late-night Buddhist sermon near his hotel in Mandalay, the country’s cultural capital.

Klaas Haytema, 30, and his girlfriend embraced and wept as he left the courtroom after his sentence was announced Thursday.

Haytema was arrested in late September after a crowd gathered around his hotel in protest when the loudspeakers at a nearby religious hall were turned off.

The man who was reciting the sermon pressed charges against Haytema.

Haytema was also fined 100,000 kyats (about $100) for violating visa regulations requiring him to respect the culture. He could have been sentenced to two years in prison for insulting religion in the predominantly Buddhist country.