Muslims slam blasphemy verdict
Accused did nothing wrong, says group
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation has criticised the blasphemy conviction and imprisonment of a Buddhist woman who complained that the call to prayer from her neighbourhood mosque was too loud.
Officials from Nahdlatul Ulama, which claims 60 million members, said yesterday that the woman’s complaint about mosque loudspeakers did not constitute blasphemy under Indonesian law.
The ethnic Chinese woman, known only as Meiliana, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Tuesday by a court in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, providing new fuel to concerns that an intolerant brand of Islam is gaining ground in Indonesia.
A conservative Muslim group in the province said the sentence was too light.
The country’s constitution guarantees freedom of speech and religion, but religious minorities are frequently the target of blasphemy prosecutions that can result in a maximum five years in prison. The overwhelming majority of cases end with guilty verdicts.
Word of the woman’s original comments in July 2016 sparked a riot in Tanjung Balai, a port town on Sumatra. Mobs burned and ransacked at least 14 Buddhist temples in the town.
“We believe Meiliana did not commit blasphemy,” Robikin Emhas, a deputy chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, said.
He added that a complaint about a speaker’s volume for the fivetimesaday call to prayer does not contain any element of hatred against a religion.
“I regret that this matter has been brought
I regret that this matter has been brought to court. It should actually be settled in a peaceful way. Robikin Emhas
to the court. It should actually be settled in a peaceful way,” Emhas said.
Prosecutors had accused the 44yearold defendant of violating the criminal code by committing blasphemy against Islam, the dominant faith in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
About 85% of Indonesians are Muslim, but Protestants, Catholics, Hindus and Buddhists are each numerically significant minorities.
Another prominent Nahdlatul Ulama official, Rumadi Ahmad, who was an expert witness at Meiliana’s trial, said in a Facebook post that his testimony was ignored.
“Meiliana, forgive me,” he wrote. “You have become a sacrifice, just ahead of the Islamic holiday Eid alAdha.”
He said under Islamic law, the call to prayer itself is not part of highest religious teachings that must be followed, so it does not fall under the blasphemy law.
The woman’s complaint in conversation with a few people also could not be considered a blasphemous public advocacy against a religion, he said.