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Ban will justify crimes against Ahmadiyah: UN

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 05/22/2008 11:26 AM | National

The United Nations Committee against Torture (UNCAT) has recommended Indonesia drop its plan to outlaw Ahmadiyah, saying the ban will legitimize crimes against members of the Islamic sect.

The committee's recommendation, made at a UNCAT hearing in Geneva on May 16, noted the failure of Indonesian security forces and authorities to provide Ahmadiyah members with adequate protection or to conduct prompt, impartial and effective investigations into the recent violence against sect members.

The committee also urged Indonesia to give prompt consideration to increasing the number of recruits from ethnic and religious minorities in law enforcement.

The Ahmadiyah case has prompted the committee to request its special rapporteur on religion to visit Indonesia. The committee asked the Indonesian government to respond favorably to the plan and allow the rapporteur to enter the country, in order to help deal with cases of violence against the Ahmadiyah community.

Director of Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial), Poengky Indarti, who attended the committee hearing, said Wednesday the committee expressed deep concern about the Ahmadiyah case because it was related to violence and violation of freedom of religion.

"The committee fears freedom of religion in Indonesia is now in a poor state," Poengky said.

In 1981, the Indonesian Ulema Council issued an edict declaring Ahmadiyah heretical. Since then followers of the Islamic sect have come under repeated attacks.

Hundreds of members of the Ahmadiyah community have been displaced since 2002, when residents of Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara raided their homes.

In 2005, about 12,000 Ahmadiyah members were attacked when they were holding an annual meeting at Mubarak College in Parung, Bogor. Sixteen people were wounded. Less than a week later, two houses of Ahmadiyah members near the college were damaged.

The Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem) has recommended the ban of Ahmadiyah on the grounds its teachings deviate from orthodox Islam.

The government was still undecided Wednesday whether to issue a decree outlawing Ahmadiyah.

Rafendi Djamin of Indonesian NGO Coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy urged the government to resolve the Ahmadiyah case within one year.

"It is obligatory for the government to resolve the issue because we have ratified some international conventions to uphold human rights," he said.

During the next four years, Rafendi said, Indonesia also had to resolve the issues of human rights violations, including finding those responsible for the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib, bringing military officers to justice for violence in conflict areas, forming solid regulations on violence against women and producing a clearer juvenile justice system. (nkn)