Indonesia: Muslim man sentenced to 3 months imprisonment for disrupting Christian church service

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Muslim man in Indonesia’s Sumatra island has been sentenced to three months imprisonment for overstepping his authority as head of a Lampung Province neighborhood and disrupting a Christian worship service being held there, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Indonesia has a Muslim majority population, and for a long time now, this has caused significant problems for Christian minority congregations seeking church building permits and the ability to hold worship services freely. Indeed, Indonesia ranks 33rd on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

However, on August 15, the Tanjungkarang District Court on Sumatra island sentenced Wawan Kurniawan, 41, head of RT 012 neighborhood, Rajabasa Jaya village, Rajabasa District in Bandar Lampung City, Lampung Province, to jail for blocking worship at the Tabernacle of David Christian Church earlier this year, MSN reports.

The charge against the defendant was reduced from blasphemy to disrupting a Christian service in violation of article 335 of the Indonesian Criminal Code, MSN said. The reduced charge was the result of a mediation agreement reached between Kurniawan and the church, MSN reports. 

According to local believers, Kurniawan would have received a significantly heavier sentence if he had been a Christian who disrupted an Islamic service, MSN reports.  

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