UN rights experts urge Indonesia to decriminalize blasphemy News
UN rights experts urge Indonesia to decriminalize blasphemy

[JURIST] Human rights experts at the UN called on Indonesia Monday to review and repeal [press release] its criminalization of blasphemy [Criminal Code Article 156, PDF]. The UN experts decided to step in after the former governor of Jakarta, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama [BBC backgrounder], was sentenced [JURIST report] earlier this month to two years in prison for blasphemy against Islam, a sentence that was more harsh than what prosecutors sought. His conviction came after Ahok, a Christian, criticized conservative Muslim leaders for using the Quran to prohibit Muslims from voting for a non-Muslim, which Ahok argued was misleading to Muslim voters. The statement [NYT report] was interpreted by some as insulting the Quran. The UN argues that the criminalization of blasphemy is a restriction on freedom of expression, and “disproportionately target persons belonging to religious minorities or traditional religions, non-believers and political dissidents.” The experts for the UN argue that laws criminalizing blasphemy justify intolerance and hate speech, which have no place in a democratic society like Indonesia, the UN maintains.

Blasphemy laws [JURIST news archive] have recently been under scrutiny in several countries. In 2008 the UK House of Lords [official website] voted to abolish [JURIST report] the criminal offenses of blasphemy and blasphemous libel from the UK common law. In 2010 the Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform proposed referendum [JURIST report] to remove the criminal offense of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution. Earlier this year, however, a Sharia high court in Nigeria sentenced [JURIST report] cleric Abdulaziz Dauda and nine others to death for committing blasphemy against the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. This past February, a Pakistani man was executed for his part in murdering [JURIST report] a politician who supported a Christian who had been convicted of blasphemy.