Indonesian girls face juvenile detention for mixing Islamic prayer with dancing to Maroon 5

Five high school students in Tolitoli, Central Sulawesi, who recorded themselves dancing to a Maroon 5 song and praying, have been expelled from school and face time in juvenile detention for “tainting religion” after the video surfaced on the internet. Police did not give their ages but said they were being treated as minors.

The five were trying to kill time between an hours-long break from afternoon classes when they made the video. The headmaster of the school, Muallimin, said he decided to report the students to the police after consulting with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

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“The students were performing Sholat [prayer] movement with dancing while alternately reciting [the] Koran and turning on ‘One More Night’ music,” Muallimin said, referring to the Maroon 5 song. The students have been expelled from school and were forbidden from taking last week’s high school national exam, which counts for 60 percent of a student’s final mark to determine whether they will graduate from high school.

Adj. Comr. Alhajat, the Tolitoli Police chief of detectives, said that the five students were charged with blasphemy against religion under article 156 of the Criminal Code. “Temporarily we use this law, but there’s a possibility that we’ll charge them with other articles during the process.” He said the girls, who are not in custody, could be jailed if found guilty but did not know what length of sentence they might face. Blasphemy in Indonesia carries a maximum sentence of five years, though minors usually face half the adult sentence.