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Ahmadiyah

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Indonesia pressured over Ahmadiyah Muslim sect killings. 8 February 2011Last updated at 09:20 A video made of the attack shows a mob attacking residents and inflicting vicious attacks Indonesia has been criticised by US groups and others after a murderous attack against supporters of the minority Ahmadiyah Muslim sect. A mob attacked sect members, killing at least three, while police either fled or stood by watching. A body which advises the US government on religious freedom has said Indonesia must act against extremist attacks. A 1965 blasphemy law, and a 2008 anti-Ahmadiyah decree, must be revoked, it said, and the attackers punished.

"This is just more deadly evidence that blasphemy laws are the cause of sectarian violence, not the solution," said Leonard Leo, chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. "Indonesia is a tolerant county that should be more intolerant of extremist groups," he said. Future fears "How many Ahmadiyah have to die at the hands of mobs before the police step in," Ms Pearson said. The Persecution of Indonesia's Ahmadi Muslims. Disband Ahmadiyah or Else, Hard-Liners Warn. Disband Ahmadiyah or Else, Hard-Liners Warn | February 19, 2011 More than 1,000 Islamic hard-liners gathered at an anti-Ahmadiyah rally in Jakarta on Friday, issuing fresh threats to topple the government if officials did not disband the minority Muslim sect. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which organized the rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, claimed Ahmadis wanted all other Muslims dead, “so they must be eliminated first.”

The protesters also called President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a banci , or transvestite, saying he was a coward for not dissolving the sect, which has been deemed deviant by mainstream Muslims for its divergent views on Islamic prophets. Awid Mashuri, deputy secretary general of the FPI, demanded that the government “stand for us instead of for Ahmadiyah.” “[The president] should act faster on this,” he said. His call prompted the crowd to shout: “We want an Islamic revolution!” “I feel this brotherly bond with Habib and [FPI spokesman] Munarman,” he said. FPI threatens to topple Yudhoyono. The Islam Defenders Front (FPI) warns it will overthrow President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from government if he dares disband any mass organization, including FPI.

“Yudhoyono will become like Ben Ali of Tunisia. Indonesia will be like Egypt. We will topple SBY because he has diverted [attention from] the [Ahmadiyah] issue,” FPI militia commander Munarman told tempointeraktif.com over the phone on Thursday. Munarman made the statement in response to Yudhoyono’s calls for the disbanding of any violent mass organizations following barbaric attack on a Ahmadiyah congregation in Cikeusik, Banten, which led to the death of three of its members. He said that Yudhoyono had made a mistake because the incident, as well as the burning of three churches in Temanggung, Central Java, on Tuesday, had not involved any mass organizations.

Difference in doctrine not enough reason to disband Ahmadiyah. The government said it needed a stronger justification to disband Ahmadiyah than the fact that its doctrine was viewed by hardliners to “deviate” from orthodox Islam, a religious leader said Saturday. Amien Rais, the former chairman of Muhammadiyah, the second-largest Muslim organization in the country, said the government could limit the movement of Ahmadiyah followers instead of disbanding the organization.

“Ahmadiyah is indeed misleading, but [the followers] also have the right to live, and they must be disbanded if they try to sabotage the nation, not because of their belief that [Muhammad] was not the last prophet,” he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency in Semarang. Amien added that disbanding Ahmadiyah may lead to similar repression of other minorities. Followers of Ahmadiyah believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the religious movement in India, was Islam’s last prophet, or at least a reformer or a redeemer of Islam. Amien claimed the attack was politically orchestration.