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British DJ sentenced to year in jail after including Muslim call to prayer in his techno set
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 7 April 2017
A court in Tunisia has ruled that a British DJ should serve a year in jail after he played a dance remix of the Muslim call to prayer during a set at a clubbing event in the country last weekend.
London-born and Berlin-based Dax J, who had fled Tunisia before the matter went to court, has already apologised for including the remix of the adhan in his techno set, insisting that “it was never my intention to upset or cause offence to anybody”.
Officials shut down the club where the Orbit Festival took place after footage of the DJ’s set appeared on YouTube. The owners of the venue and promoter of the event were also charged over the incident, though according to the AFP those charges were dismissed by the court, but the prosecution has indicated they plan to appeal that ruling.
The promoters of Orbit apologised over the inclusion of the adhan in Dax J’s set earlier this week, adding that the DJ “did not realise it might offend an audience from a Muslim country like ours”. The promoters added that they did not accept responsibility for any offensive music at their event, as they did not know what the DJ planned to play.
Though prosecutors have argued that that is no excuse, as the promoters should have checked Dax J’s setlist before the show.