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Friday, June 15, 2012

Indonesian Atheist Jailed For "Inciting religious hatred"

The 30-year-old West Sumatran atheist Alexander Aan, who was beaten up and jailed for writing "God doesn't exist" and posting Mohammad cartoons on his Facebook group page Ateis Minang, and was facing  a maximum of 5 years in jail, has finally been been sentenced.

Presiding judge Eka Prasetya Budi Dharma found Aan guilty of
“..deliberately spreading information inciting religious hatred and animosity."

“What he did has caused anxiety to the community and tarnished Islam.”

“Under the Electronic Information and Transactions law, we sentence him to prison for a length of two years and six months."

Initially, he was also charged with two other 'crimes'-  blasphemy and "persuading others to embrace atheism"- which could have netted him those 5 years. However, those charges were dropped, and prosecutors didn't get the 3 1/2 years they wanted.

Ironically, although not surprising, those who have attacked (and sometimes killed) Christians and Ahmadis (Muslim minority sect) have received far lighter sentences than Aan.

As I mentioned in my other post, Indonesia's freedom of religion is bogus.  These people need to get a life.

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