Arientha Primanita – Sampang's persecuted Shiite Muslim minority, fearful of another round of forced conversions by Sunni Muslims, called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to ensure

Camelia Pasandaran – Two Ahmadiyah teachers and a school attendant have left a state elementary school in Cianjur following pressure from local residents.

Corry Elyda, Jakarta – Prosecutors sought on Thursday a suspended sentence for Abdul Azis, the defendant of a harassment case in last year's attack against the Congregation of Batak Pro

SP/Mikael Niman – Prosecutors demanded a three-month sentence for a man who threatened to kill the pastor of Bekasi's embattled HKBP Filadelfia church during a tense Easter protest by h

A central government plan to allow Madura Island's persecuted Shiites to return home from exile in Sidoarjo, East Java, hinges on the proposal's acceptance by local religious leaders –

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The government has denied making any promises to the displaced Shia community from Sampang, Madura, that they would return home soon.

Camelia Pasandaran – Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister, in an apparent attempt to downplay the nation's rising tide of religious intolerance, suggested that inter-faith strife is "

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has endorsed the decision by the East Java administration to relocate 235 Shiites from Sampang, Madura Island, to Sidaoarj

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Sidoarjo, East Java – For the first time in his life, Jawi, 42, a Shiite who was evicted from his hometown in Bluuran village in Sampang regency, Madura, East Java

Panca Nugraha, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – The National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has detected strong indications of human rights violations behind the settlement of Ahm

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, in response to criticism from local and foreign institutions that say the country turns a blind eye to religious perse

Index: ASA 21/024/2013

Panca Nugraha, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – While almost everybody else is welcoming Ramadhan with happiness and smiles, for 116 Ahmadis who are now living at the Transito house in Mat

Stephanie Hendarta – Violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims on East Java's Madura Island and an attack on an Ahmadiyah community in West Java are among the 282 cases of religious vio

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has formed a team to help members of the Sampang Shia community, violently evicted from their homes.

Stephanie Hendarta – Human rights observers have called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to step in to support a persecuted group of Shiites in East Java, and by so doing fulfill a

Permitting local authorities to act as the de facto agents of religious extremists sends a dangerous and destabilizing message that majority communities can do whatever they want agains

The Indonesian government denied accusations of a conspiracy to oust Shiite Muslims from the conflict-prone district of Sampang, Madura Island, following the forced relocation of 162 Sh

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Rights activists have called on the New York-based interfaith organization the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF) to reconsider its decision to grant Pres

Ina Parlina and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Jakarta – Members of the Sampang Shia community have been evicted from a sports complex where they had sought refuge for the past year, and have be

Amir Tejo, Camelia Pasandaran, Arientha Primanita & Ezra Sihite, Surabaya/Jakarta – The bedraggled group of 162 men, women and children had since August last year been forced to liv

Further information on UA: 336/12 Index: ASA 21/022/2013 Indonesia Date: 21 June 2013

Camelia Pasandaran & Arientha Primanita – A fatal mob attack on a community in East Java that displaced 160 Shiite Muslims took another turn today when authorities began their forci

Urgent Appeal Update: AHRC-UAU-019-2013

Jakarta – The Sunni majority in Sampang, Madura, East Java, had no problem welcoming the return of ostracized Shia community members; the main issue that bars them from returning to the

Jakarta – The US Department of State's 2012 Report on International Religious Freedom has revealed that the Indonesian government has failed to properly address the banning and assault

It was perhaps the worst possible time for officials in Surabaya to host students from two US universities hoping to learn about pluralism and democracy.

Camelia Pasandaran – The last vestige of one Indonesia's oldest and largest Jewish communities is now just a pile of rubble.

Amir Tedjo, Surabaya – A small group of religious hard-liners backed up by police disrupted an interfaith dialogue on Tuesday night, claiming that the event was conducted without a perm

James Balowski – The Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF) – a US-based interfaith organisation of business leaders – presented Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with the Wo

An Indonesian legal expert has described a lawsuit filed by the Ahmadiyah against the mayor of Bekasi over the shuttering of their mosque as a "very interesting development" that could

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Depok – After cooling off for a month, protest against construction of a grand mosque by the Indonesian Islam Propagation Institute (LDII) mounted when gangs of youths

Camelia Pasandaran & Ezra Sihite – Indonesian Embassy officials denied claims that the office paid Indonesians living in the United States to rally in support of President Susilo Ba

Jakarta – Former vice president Jusuf Kalla said that, in spite of his flawed performance, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono deserved the World Statesmen Award from New York-based inte

Jakarta – A protestant church in Cipinang Muara, East Jakarta, was sealed off by the Building Supervision and Regulation Agency (P2B) on Monday for not having a renovation permit.

Rebecca Lake & Sandra Siagian, Jakarta/New York – Standing in front of the two-meter concrete wall, barbed wire and corrugated iron fence that surrounds his mosque, Muhammad Iqbal s

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received in New York on Thursday evening the World Statesman Award from a US interfaith organization for his role in promot

Ian Dulkowski – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received in New York on Thursday evening the World Statesman Award from a US interfaith organization for his role in promoting religio

Jakarta – As President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono prepares to accept the controversial World Statesman Award, a joint-ministerial meeting on the Ahmadiyah issue on Thursday concluded that

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono deserved his forthcoming award for letting religious harmony flourish in Indonesia.

The problem with religious disputes, Albert Hasibuan, a presidential aide, said lies in local leaders' defiance of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has departed for the US, where he is expected to accept the World Statesman Award for promoting religious tolerance in the

Arientha Primanita – Two suspects of an attack on Ahmadiyah Muslims in Tasikmalaya, West Java, received approval to be released from detainment on Monday, a move which the members of th

Nadya Natahadibrata and Margareth S.

Despite mounting criticism from interfaith activists, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will accept the World Statesman Award in an upcoming trip to the United States, his staff said o

Prodita Sabarini, Bekasi – Next to a sealed Ahmadi mosque in Bekasi is a plot of land with leafy trees and damp earth.

Jakarta – Former national human rights commission chief Marzuki Darusman encouraged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to accept the religious freedom award despite the polemic.

Arya Dipa, Bandung – The Priangan Barat chapter of Jemaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia (JAI) in West Java say Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali takes side and cheerleads intolerance.

Margareth S.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Close aides of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have blasted critics who said that the President did not deserve the World Statesman Award due to his failu