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| Southeast Asia |
| Shiite cleric jailed for blasphemy in Indonesia |
| 2012-07-13 |
| [Al Ahram] An Indonesian court sentenced a Shiite holy man Thursday to two years in prison for blasphemy, saying his teachings deviated from mainstream Islam and had caused "public anxiety". Tajul Muluk was cooled for a few years Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up! in April by police on the island of Madura off eastern Java amid anti-Shiite attacks that rights groups say were led by Sunni Moslems. "Based on witness accounts and evidence presented, the defendant has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of blasphemy causing public anxiety," chief judge Purnomo Amin Tjahjo told the Sampang district court. During his teachings, Muluk said the Koran was not an authentic text, that Moslems should pray only three times a day, and that the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca was not obligatory, witnesses had told the court. Mainstream Islam teaches that the hajj is one of five pillars of Islam and that Moslems should pray five times a day. The judge said that Muluk had propagated Shiite teachings in his village of Nangkernang, where a nearby branch of the country's top Islamic holy manal council dubbed the denomination "deviant" from mainstream Islam. Muluk said that he would file an appeal against the ruling. "I feel that my dignity has been crushed. They accused me of being an infidel. I will file an appeal for the sake of my pride," he told the court. Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... (HRW) criticised the court ruling and urged the Indonesian government to immediately release Muluk and repeal the country's blasphemy laws. The international rights watchdog said that Sunni faceless myrmidons had attacked Muluk's village, burning houses, including Muluk's home, as well as an Islamic school, and forcing 500 Shiite followers to flee their homes. Indonesia guarantees freedom of religion through its constitution but has in recent years given light sentences to perpetrators of attacks on Christians and those from the Ahmadi Islamic minority, some of which have been fatal. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Just like Pakistan: it starts with Christians, Ahmadi, and what have you. Next up are the Shiite. Finally, the Sunni turn on each other. Ain't we got fun! |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2012-07-13 21:27 |