Activists slammed the Sampang government in East Java for halting food and clean water supplies en route to displaced Shiites who had to evacuate their village after religious extremists killed one person and burned down dozens of homes.

Hertasning Ichlas, the executive director of Universalia Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHU), said the government's decision to stop the donation from reaching the sheltered refugees was inhumane and unconstitutional.

"YLBHU demands the Sampang government to immediately provide food and clean water supplies to the refugees because they deserve it," he said.

Hertasning said the Sampang government should also start returning the displaced Shiites to their villages because they've been forced to abandon their livelihood while living in the shelter.

The refugees' coordinator, Iklil, said refugees have been living in a Sampang sports center for nine months with very limited facilities with very little assistance from state institutions.

He said the refugees' efforts to return to their villages in Omben and Karang Gayam have been hampered by the regional government and that the social affairs office has tried to convince to them to move elsewhere.

"Of course we rejected the idea [of moving somewhere else]. We still want to go home, because our land, home and cattle are there, our whole livelihood is in our villages," Iklil said.

A mob of 500 Sunni Muslims rampaged through a village in Sampang's Omben subdistrict last year on Aug. 26, hacking one Shiite Muslim to death and setting fire to more than 30 homes. The brutal attack drove the beleaguered Shiite community from their homes.

Those who remained in the region, or refused to convert to Sunni Islam, were forced to live in spartan conditions in the sports complex. Few, including several lawmakers with the House of Representatives, have offered to extend aid to the displaced community.