Naivasha, Kenya - A couple found having sex in a mosque during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a Kenyan court on Monday.
The pair, Peter Kimani and Jennifer Wairimu, were discovered in flagrante delicto on October 3 by a worshipper who investigated the strange noises he heard emanating from a dark corner in Abubakar Mosque in Gilgil, 100km north-west of the capital Nairobi.
During Ramadan, one of the five pillars of Islam, Muslims are expressly forbidden to eat, drink, smoke or engage in sexual intercourse during the daylight hours for the length of the 30-day fast.
Kimani pleaded for mercy, saying that he was drunk and thought that he was in a hotel while his partner Wairimu admitted she had been too drunk to know what was going on.
But Naivasha senior magistrate John King'ori dismissed the pair's plea for leniency, calling their behavior "abominable."
"Having sex in a mosque is a most abominable thing to religion," he said.
The Islamic faith strictly forbids Muslims from entering a mosque without thoroughly washing themselves after sexual relations.
The couple has 14 days to appeal the verdict before they are to begin serving their sentences. - Sapa-AFP
