Ayatollah tells mosques to keep noise down

TEHRAN, July 14 (AFP) - An Iranian ayatollah has urged mosques throughout the country to turn down their loudspeakers to avoid disturbing the peace.

Ayatollah Jalali Khomeini, an aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said mosques "should refrain from turning up their loudspeakers and not be a nuisance to the public."

"Loudspeakers should not disturb neighbors and should be turned up only during the calls to prayers," which take place three times a day in Shiite Moslem Iran, he said, quoted by the English-language Iran Daily on Tuesday.

The ayatollah, speaking at a ceremony Sunday marking the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Mohammad, also suggested mosques should be equiped with more educational facilities.

"Mosques are the best place for the public's intellectual development. So they should be equiped with advanced equipment to attract especially the young," he said.

Some mosques already offer educational and cultural courses as well as recreational activities during summer holidays.

But they are best known as bases for the volunteer Islamic loyalists, or the Basij.

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