Chinese tourists fined RM25 each for dancing at Kota Kinabalu mosque

KOTA KINABALU - Two tourists from China who were caught on video dancing in front of a mosque were fined RM25 (US$6.20) each on Wednesday (Jun 27).

Dance coaches Wan Han, 27, and Zhang Na, 25, committed the offence last Saturday at around 4pm at the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque.

The following day, the mosque placed a temporary ban on tourists after a nine-second video of the two women dancing on a fence, with the mosque in the background, went viral.

Both women were detained at a hotel lobby on Wednesday morning after a police report was lodged against them, reported New Straits Times.

The women, who were unrepresented, pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly behaviour in public. They asked for a lenient sentence as they did not know what they did was wrong, the Star reported.

"Both women said they did not do it with any ill intentions of making fun of a place of worship but merely did it for entertainment reasons," said city police chief Assistant Commissioner M Chandra.
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After paying their fines, the women were escorted to Kota Kinabalu International Airport where they flew back to China.