11 people have been arrested by the Kano State Hisbah Board in Nigeria for eating at daytime during Ramadan.
The suspects include three males and eight females.
They have been accused of not observing the fast which is mandatory for healthy adults.
This year’s Ramadan fasting period began in April 12, 2021.
Kasatintin.com has gathered that the Director-General of the Hisbah board, Dr. Aliyu Musa Kibiya has ordered that the suspects be properly investigated to determine whether or not they are unfit to perform the mandatory fast.
Latest information indicates that the suspect could be jailed If found guilty.
‘We will investigate and if they have cogent reasons we will release them. Those found wanting will however be enlightened and even prosecuted if need be’, Kibiya is reported to have said.
He stressed that ‘fasting is compulsory for healthy adult Muslims in the month of Ramadan except for the traveler, menstruating women, or old people’.
He cautioned that a woman should not be seen eating in public during fasting ‘for whatever reason’ adding that the board will arrest anyone found to be eating during the day.
Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset during the holy month of Ramadan.
During this period, it is an offense in Muslim countries to publicly consume anything, including food, drink, tobacco and medicines. The law also applies to non-Muslims.
In 2014, 19 people were arrested in Kuwait for eating in public during Ramadan.
The Kuwaiti authorities said the people were caught eating on the side of a road during the day.
A Dutch girl and a Lebanese prisoner who smoked were also arrested and prosecuted.
A court in northern Tunisia, in 2017 also handed a one-month jail term to four men for eating in public during the Muslim dawn-to-dusk fasting month of Ramadan.
The four were found guilty of ‘eating and smoking in a public garden, a provocative act during Ramadan’.
SOURCE: Kasatintin.com
