Manama: An Irish woman has been sentenced to seven years in prison after she was convicted of throwing the Quran at a Doha airport mosque nine months ago.
According to the testimony of female cleaning workers, the accused on September 14 entered the women's mosque "wearing indecent clothes, took a copy of the holy book and threw it on the floor".
The woman reportedly asked the workers' supervisor, an Egyptian, about the reason some of the staff were resting on the mosque floor and then threw a copy of the Quran on the floor saying that nothing in the book said it was prohibited to do so, Qatari daily Gulf Times reported.
The Irish woman had told the public prosecution that the Quran fell "by mistake" from her hands, adding that she belonged to all religions.
The 39-year-old woman, who had been granted bail, did not attend the trial, the daily said. The judges said the testimonies during pretrial investigations were "reliable".
Explaining the verdict, the court said that it was handed down after taking into consideration the gravity of the woman's behaviour.
