Authorities allegedly seal Ahmadiyah mosque in Depok

A week into Ramadhan, authorities of Depok city in West Java reportedly sealed on late Saturday a mosque belonging to an Ahmadiyah congregation, a minority Muslim group that has long been persecuted for its beliefs.

Ahmadiyah spokesman Yendra Budiana said in a press release that Depok Mayor Mohammad Idris and a number of police and Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers went to the Al-Hidayah Mosque in Sawangan, Depok to ensure the mosque had not been used for worship activities.

“The mayor had the police confiscate the mosque’s CCTV recordings to prove that there had been activity in the mosque recently,” said Yendra. “The mayor also reported Depok’s Ahmadiyah congregation to the police for using the mosque as a place of worship.”

He said while the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) had urged the mayor to not restrict religious freedom, the latter insisted on fulfilling the demands of “certain groups that pressured him into forbidding Ahmadiyah followers from carrying out their worship activities in Depok”.

He also called on the mayor, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian, relevant ministries and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to give more attention to the issue. (dea)