Indonesia: "Ahmadiyya Community At Risk," Rights Group Warns

The Ahmadiyya community, a religious minority in Indonesia, is facing increasing restrictions, intimidation and attacks because of their beliefs.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Amnesty International
By AI | March 16, 2011

"AHMADIYYA COMMUNITY AT RISK in Indonesia"

The Ahmadiyya community is facing increasing levels of restrictions, intimidation and attacks because of their beliefs, since the killing of three Ahmadis in the sub-district of Cikeusik, Banten province on 6 February. Since then at least four provinces in Indonesia – South Sulawesi, West and East Java and Banten – have issued new regional regulations restricting Ahmadiyya activities. The regulations include prohibiting the Ahmadiyya from distributing pamphlets, putting signs in front of their offices and places of worship, as well as forbidding them from wearing anything to indicate that they are Ahmadiyya members.


Local human rights groups have documented cases of intimidation against the Ahmadiyya by the Indonesian military. According to them military officers have been visiting the homes of Ahmadis in several districts of West Java collecting data about their members and asking some of them to sign sworn statements renouncing their faith. Attacks against Ahmadiyya property have also been reported. On 11 March, four Ahmadi homes were attacked in Ciareteun, West Java. The following day the Bogor district police reportedly rounded up Ahmadis in a village, informing them of the new regulation restricting their activities and telling them to move out if they fear for their safety. In another incident in the same province on 13 March, an estimated 40 demonstrators reportedly broke into an Ahmadiyya place of worship in Cipeuyem village, Cianjur district and burned hundreds of books.

The right to freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Indonesian Constitution. Moreover, Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Indonesia is a state party, states that “this right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice” and that “no one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice”.


PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Indonesian or your own language calling on authorities in Indonesia: [Click here for guidance]

Read original post here: "AHMADIYYA COMMUNITY AT RISK in Indonesia"