Indonesia: new mob attack on Ahmadi minority condemned amid sentencing controversy

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Indonesia: new mob attack on Ahmadi minority condemned amid sentencing controversy

Posted: 16 August 2011

The Indonesian authorities must act to halt attacks on the country’s Ahmadi minority, Amnesty International said today, after a radical Islamist group led an attack on the Ahmadiyya in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Hundreds of members of the group the Islamic Defender’s Front (FPI) attacked a large group of Ahmadiyya in their place of worship on Sunday.

Armed with machetes and bamboo sticks, the FPI members stormed the building at around 1am and attacked worshippers, inflicting serious head injuries on at least one Ahmadiyya member.

Three local human rights defenders, two from the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (LBH) in Makassar and one from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) were beaten by the mob while trying to stop the attacks. According to them, police officers who were present did nothing to stop the violence or protect the victims.

Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy Director, Donna Guest, said:

“The Indonesian authorities must immediately investigate and punish these attacks on the Ahmadiyya and human rights defenders in South Sulawesi.

“We fear that some groups now think that they can attack religious minorities and human rights defenders without any fear of serious consequences.”

The previous evening dozens of FPI members had ransacked the building, breaking its windows and damaging a vehicle.

Donna Guest added:

“The Ahmadiyya are not receiving adequate protection from the security forces or the courts.

“There are concerns that the authorities are not treating violence against the Ahmadiyya seriously. The Indonesian police must do more to protect religious minorities from attacks and intimidation.”

The fresh attacks have taken place amid a sentencing controversy over a fatal mob attack in February in Banten province on the home of an Ahmadi leader by over a 1,000 people wielding rocks, machetes, swords and spears.

An Indonesian court yesterday sentenced Deden Sudjana of the Ahmadi community to six months’ imprisonment for incitement and ‘maltreatment’ during the February mob attack on the Ahmadiyya property. Three Ahmadis were beaten to death in the attack.

On 28 July, 12 of the attackers received sentences of three to six months, and none were tried for murder.

Meanwhile, in January 2011, hundreds of FPI members attacked an Ahmadiyya community centre in South Sulawesi, vandalising the building while the police looked on. Amnesty International is not aware of any investigation into the attacks.

There have also been reports of raids on entertainment outlets and food stalls by FPI members in Makassar since the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

South Sulawesi’s provincial government is reportedly preparing a regulation issued by the Governor that would unlawfully restrict Ahmadiyya activities in the province.

The Ahmadiyya are a religious group who consider themselves a part of Islam; however many Muslim groups say they do not adhere to the accepted belief system.

© Amnesty International
URL: www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19626

Indonesia: Ahmadiyah mosque fire was arson, say police

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

Headlines Wed, 06/03/2009 2:34 PM

Ahmadiyah mosque fire was arson, say police

ProditaSabarini and Andra Wisnu, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A mosque belonging to members of the persecuted Islamic sect, Jamaah Ahmadiyah, was deliberately set on fire by unidentified arsonists, the police confirmed Tuesday.

Unidentified men attempted to burn the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect’s mosque, located on Jl. Ciputat Raya in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, on Tuesday morning, a day after Muslim hard-liners staged a rally against the sect.

“We believe the perpetrators were people who did not like the fact there was an Ahmadiyah mosque here,” Comr. Makmur Simbolon, chief of the Kebayoran Lama Police, said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Makmur suspected there were two people involved in the arson, who had used 5 liters of gasoline from a jerrican that had been found at the site. The police chief said he believed the arsonists had poured the gasoline over the floor of the second story of the mosque and ignited it in an attempt to destroy the building.

He said testimonies from Ahmadis had revealed that someone had tried to sneak into the mosque on Monday, though they were immediately discovered by the Ahmadis, who then reported the break-in to the Kebayoran Lama Police.

He said he had sent several officers to patrol the area until 11 p.m. However, he refused to take the blame for the arson, saying “the police could not keep an eye on everyone at every moment”.

He said the police were questioning five witnesses about the arson.

“We are still investigating this case and the number of witnesses will definitely rise,” he said.

At least eight people were confirmed to have been praying when the fire began, but they escaped the fire unscathed.

“The fire was immediately extinguished by locals and did not spread to other areas,” Makmur said.

According to Ahmadiyah spokesman, Zafrulah Pontoh, Ahmadis noticed the fire blazing on the second story of Al-Hidayah Mosque after performing the dawn prayer. They immediately put out the fire and notified the police.

Zafrulah said the fire had charred the ceiling of the second floor.

“We don’t know who the perpetrators are yet,” he said.

The attempt to burn Al-Hidayah Mosque is the latest harassment of the Ahmadis, a group of people who believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who founded the group in 1889, was a prophet and also the messiah.

In April last year, mobs burned down an Ahmadiyah mosque in Sukabumi. In Mataram, Lombok, East Nusa Tenggara, 192 people are still living in a refugee center after being forced out from their village in Lingsar, West Lombok, three years ago. More than 300 houses there were destroyed.

From the southern part of Indonesia (Bengkalis in Riau) to the eastern part (Bulukumba, South Sulawesi), the persecution of the Ahmadis has been widespread. It has been common for mobs to destroy the houses of Ahmadiyah members.

After the governmental Coordinating Body for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakorpakem) recommended that Jamaah Ahmadiyah be outlawed for having “deviated from Islamic principles”, the government released a joint ministerial decree last June freezing activities of the group, which established itself legally in 1953. Ahmadiyah entered Indonesia in 1925.

The decree allows Ahmadis to practice their faith as long as they do not attempt to disseminate their religion to anyone else.

The compromise has not been received well by both Muslim hard-liners, who demand the group be outlawed completely, and liberals, who reject state interference in religious practice.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/06/03/ah...was-arson-say-police.html

Indonesia: Arson attack on Ahmadiyah mosque in South Jakarta

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

Jakarta Tue, 06/02/2009 11:11 AM

Arson attack on Ahmadiyah mosque in South Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A mosque belonging to the “deviant” Islamic sect Jamaah Ahmadiyah in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, has been damaged in an arson attack. There were no injuries in the incident.

Kebayoran Lama Police chief Comr. Makmur S said that the incident occurred during dawn prayers on Tuesday.

Witnesses told police that eight Ahmadiyah members were performing the dawn prayer on the second floor of the two-story building, when two men sprayed the mosque with gasoline from a jerry can and lit the fire. The fire damaged a rug, a chair and a bicycle.

Makmur said the two men had been seen near the mosque on Monday evening.

“[Ahmadiyah] members were suspicious of the men and called the police for protection. We guarded the mosque until 10 p.m.; who would’ve known they’d come back at dawn,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.

Makmur said the mosque had often received threats.

The government, through a joint ministerial decree, has banned members of Jamaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia (JAI) from propagating their religious teachings, but they are allowed to maintain their faith and perform their daily religious duties. (dre)

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/n...south-jakarta.html