Index: ASA 21/029/2013

Anushka Shahjahan – Displaced Shia residents from the trouble-plagued East Java island of Madura must be allowed to return home safely, voluntarily and with dignity, Amnesty Internation

Jakarta – The new head of Lenteng Agung subdistrict in South Jakarta, Susan Jasmine Zulkifli, 43, whose replacement on sectarian grounds was demanded on Monday, has won the support of m

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the Chief of the Indonesian Police, Gen. Timur Pradopo.

Lenny Tristia Tambun – The Jakarta administration says it will not bow to pressure from a group of South Jakarta residents requesting the dismissal of their local ward chief for being a

Sita W.

Phelim Kine – In early June, the Indonesian government erected a 16-foot gleaming white statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, on Washington's Embassy Row.

Ina Parlina and Margareth S.

Ezra Sihite – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sought on Friday to defend Indonesia against accusations that the republic was descending into greater religious intolerance.

Andreas Harsono – The plight of the Al-Mujahadah Foundation madrassa in southern Aceh illustrates the perils of rising religious intolerance for Indonesia's religious minorities.

Margareth S.

Ezra Sihite – Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said he did not believe recent reports that Shia Muslims in Sampang district, East Java, were subjected to forced conversions by local

Margareth S.

Camelia Pasandaran – Many Shiite Muslims returning to Madura for Idul Fitri last week were given an ultimatum that forced them to convert to Sunnism or leave the troubled East Java isla

Margareth S.

Camelia Pasandaran – As millions of Muslims flocked to mosques across Indonesia on the morning of Idul Fitri last Thursday, a small group braved the early morning chill, considerable di

Jakarta – Din Syamsuddin, the chairman of Indonesia's second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, said on Saturday that there should not have been any forced belief in the process

Margareth Aritonang, Jakarta – Former vice president Jusuf Kalla warned that forced conversion imposed on members of the Shia community in Sampang, East Java during the reconciliation p

Margareth Aritonang, Jakarta – Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi rejected accusations centering on the government's alleged ultimatum to the displaced Sampang Shiites – convert to the "true"

Margareth S.

Margareth S.

Jakarta – "I don't want my friends to turn away from me when I tell them who I am," said 13-year-old Ardan, not his real name, on Saturday during a story-telling event at the Jakarta Le

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.