Indonesia: Attacks against Ahmadiyya and Shi’a minorities persisted during 2014-15 | Amnesty

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The authorities failed to provide remedies for a displaced Ahmadiyya community in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, forcibly evicted by a mob from their homes in 2006.

File photo: Govt sealed an Ahmadiyya mosque in Bekasi

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Amnesty International
By AI Report 2014/15 Excerpts | March 3, 2015

Freedom of religion curtailed

Intimidation and attacks against religious minorities continued during the 2014/15 reporting period. There was a lack of progress in ensuring truth, justice and reparations for victims of past human rights violations. A new Islamic Criminal Code by-law in Aceh province, passed in September, increased offences punishable by caning.

In October 2014 Joko Widodo replaced Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as head of state.

Harassment, intimidation and attacks against religious minorities persisted, fuelled by discriminatory laws and regulations at both national and local levels.

In May, the Bekasi city authority issued a decree to close the Al-Misbah Ahmadiyya mosque in Bekasi, West Java province, referring to a 2008 Joint Ministerial Decree forbidding the Ahmadiyya community from promoting their activities and spreading their religious teachings. The Bekasi local government police then locked and sealed the mosque. On 26 June, the local government in Ciamis district, West Java province, closed down the Nur Khilafat Ahmadiyya mosque, citing the need to “maintain religious harmony” and to stop the spread of a “deviant interpretation of Islamic teaching”. Days before, hundreds of supporters of hardline Islamist groups had protested outside the office of the local district chief demanding the closure of the mosque. In October, the local government in Depok district, West Java, closed down the Al-Hidayah Ahmadiyya mosque to prevent “social disharmony”.

By the end of the year, a displaced Shi’a community from Sampang, East Java, who were attacked and evicted by an anti-Shi’a mob in 2012, remained in temporary accommodation in Sidoarjo and prevented from returning to their homes. The authorities failed to provide remedies for a displaced Ahmadiyya community in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, forcibly evicted by a mob from their homes in 2006.

Concerns about the “forced relocation of religious minorities, particularly Shi’a and Ahmadiyya communities, which were instigated by mobs and based on religious incitement” were raised by the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing in March. In May, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights raised concerns about the situation of several groups, including displaced religious communities, which suffered “multiple discriminations”.

In November, the newly elected Minister of Religious Affairs and the Minister of Home Affairs both stated that the government would make the protection of minority rights one of its priorities.


Read original post here: Indonesia: Attacks against religious minorities persisted during 2014-15 | Amnesty


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