Source/Credit: Breitbart | News
By AP | February 6, 2011
JAKARTA, Feb. 6 (AP) - (Kyodo)—At least four members of a religious minority group in Indonesia were killed Sunday when a group of suspected Muslim hardliners attacked the house of one of its followers in Indonesia's Banten Province near Jakarta.
Carrying sharp weapons, a group estimated at 1,000 people attacked the home of a member of the Ahmadiyah congregation in the Pandeglang Regency before noon, police said.
"Four of our members were killed and four others were seriously injured, mostly from stab wounds," Ahmadiyah Indonesia spokesman Mubarik Ahmad said.
But according to state-run news agency Antara, a villager said six are dead.
The attack is the latest of a series of assaults and arsons on Ahmadiyah homes and mosques in Indonesia by Islamic militants, particularly those from the Islamic Defenders' Front, in recent years.
So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the Sunday atrocity.
Founded by in what is now Pakistan in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Ahmadiyah identify themselves as Muslims but differ with other Muslims as to whether Mohamed was the final monotheist prophet.
Consequently, some Muslims perceive the Ahmadiyah as heretics.
Pandeglang Police Chief Alex Fauzy Rasyad said that in the Sunday attack the mob also destroyed a car and a motorcycle.
Anti-Ahmadiyah violence in Indonesia has increased since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a prohibition on teachings or public displays of the faith in June 2008.
The Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, a Jakarta-based group working on religious freedom, recorded 50 attacks in 2010 against the Ahmadiyah community.
Since August last year, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali has repeatedly called for the faith to be banned in Indonesia.
Ahmadiyah is banned in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and has been under attack in Bangladesh.
Last week, Human Rights Watch called on Indonesian police to arrest those responsible for the attacks on Ahmadiyah followers and to protect vulnerable religions minorities across the country.
"The authorities need to send a message that hate crimes won't be tolerated by prosecuting those responsible," Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said.
She said prohibiting Ahmadis from practicing their faith violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Indonesia in 2006, which protects the right to freedom of religion and to engage in religious practice.
The treaty also protects the rights of minorities "to profess and practice their own religion."
"Indonesia's reputation as a rights-respecting country will suffer unless President Yudhoyono acts to end the violence against the Ahmadiyah and lifts the ban on their religious practices," she said.
There are about 200,000 Ahmadis in Indonesia
Read original post here: 4 die in attack on religious minority in Indonesia
Very sad indeed. May Allah protect Ahmadi Muslims all over the world. Aameen.
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