WORLD NEWS FEBRUARY 3, 2019 / 9:55 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Israeli mosque prayer caller fired over photos in bodybuilder outfit

Rami Ayyub
3 MIN READ

ACRE, Israel (Reuters) - A prayer caller at a mosque in the Israeli city of Acre is appealing for his job back after being fired over photos posted online of him in a revealing outfit at a bodybuilding contest.

Ibrahim al-Masri said he lost his job as chief muezzin of the Al-Jazzar Mosque after local officials came upon the photos of him at the state bodybuilding championship in 2017.

“Each sport has a specific type of clothing. Football has its own, tennis has its own, swimming has its own. Same thing for bodybuilding,” Masri said, referring to the wire-thin briefs competitors typically wear.

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Masri said the decision to fire him was taken by an official who viewed it “as something incredibly disgraceful for a religious worker to go enter this competition”.

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