Aan was arrested in a small town in West Sumatra on January 18 after a number of local residents assaulted him at work in an act of self-styled vigilantism. They were reacting to some of his postings on a Facebook page devoted to atheism: a note entitled “the Prophet Muhammad was attracted to his own daughter-in-law”; a comic suggesting the Prophet slept with his wife’s maid; and a status update reading, “If you believe in god, then please show him to me.”
Prosecutors have charged Aan under the Electronic Information and Transaction Law, which prohibits inciting hatred or enmity of a religious group, and under the country’s blasphemy provision, Article 156a, which criminalizes “hostility, hatred or contempt” and “disgracing” of a religion. Article 156a also prohibits attempts to persuade others to leave their religion and embrace atheism.
Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory was so jumbled after a beating by immigration officers that...
Israeli forces have detained two journalists, two foreign solidarity activists and a Palestinian anti-settlement activist in...
Attorneys for the Trump administration are aiming to deport Liam Conejo Ramos, the five-year-old boy whose...
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 19 Palestinians, most of them women and children, by...
