Saturday, January 21, 2012

Indonesian man persecuted for atheist statement on facebook



An Indonesian man who said that God did not exist in a posting on a Facebook page for atheists could face jail.

Civil servant Alexander Aan, 31, is now in protective police custody after he was attacked by an angry mob earlier this week.

He may also lose his job over his posting on the social networking site.

Atheism is a violation of Indonesian law under the founding principles of the country.

Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim nation - recognises the right to practice five other religions aside from Islam, says the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta.

Local media said a mob attacked Mr Aan when he arrived for work at a government office on Wednesday.

Police said that according to Indonesian criminal law, anyone who tried to stop others believing in a faith could face up to five years in prison

The Facebook page where he made his comments is now unavailable. Supporters of Mr An have urged police to release him.
[1]

The above article is from the BBC English version.  In the Turkish version, the above picture was posted containing this old picture from The Thinking Atheist facebook page.  Though he did not actually post his comments to this page, the picture has led to increased Muslim postings on The Thinking Atheist facebook page.

The six legal religions in Indonesia are "Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. Others are officially banned. It also prohibits alternative interpretations of recognized religions, including Islam."[2]

Talk about your ridiculous laws!

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