Indonesia: Two Christians Arrested for Social Media Blasphemy Against Islam

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Police in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia, recently arrested two Christian men in separate incidents of alleged blasphemy against Islam, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Although Christianity is constitutionally legal in Indonesia, the Muslim-majority country ranks 42 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

On October 17, police in Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatra Province, arrested florist Rudi Simamora for commenting on social media that messages from the Islamic prophet Muhammad were of human rather than divine origin, MSN reports. Simamora’s comments caused hundreds of Muslims to stage an angry protest around his home.

When Simamora called for police, he was arrested and detained for more than an hour, MSN reports. Simamora’s arrest last week followed his recent release from prison, to which he was sentenced last year for allegedly Islam.

In a similar case, on September 3, police in North Sumatra Province arrested Muchtar Nababan for allegedly blaspheming Muhammad and Islam on his Facebook. Muchtar reportedly said Christians are protected from Islamic black magic. Police were called after Raju Firmanda, secretary of the National Committee of Indonesia Youth (Komite Nasional Pemuda Indonesia, or KNPI), Central Tapanuli Chapter, filed a case against him. 

“The situation for Christians [in Indonesia] has been deteriorating in recent years, with Indonesian society increasingly influenced by conservative interpretations of Islam,” the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization notes in a current website statement.

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