August 10, 2012
Lebanese singer Yara was taken to the police by her driver in Algeria after she refused to stop smoking in accordance with the country’s Ramadan laws, the UAE’s Gulf News said on Thursday.
Yara, a Christian, took out a cigarette and began smoking whilst being driven from Setif, east of the capital Algiers, to Constantine, also in the east.
She refused to put the cigarette out after her driver, an Algerian who was fasting, asked her to do so.
Angry with her response, the driver took her to the police station in the city of Chelghoum Laïd to report her to the authorities, accusing her of disrespecting Muslims and the month of Ramadan.
The police informed her that she was not allowed to smoke in public during Ramadan in Algeria, a majority Muslim country, even though she was a Christian. She was asked by the Algerian police to show some respect to Muslims and Ramadan and to refrain from smoking.
Muslims fast in the month of Ramadan every year, during which, they abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and being involved in sexual activities from sunrise till sunset. However, Muslims are permitted to break the fast if they are sick, pregnant, a nursing mother or making a long journey.
