A Beleaguered Community
What makes the case of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community special is that the numerous manifestations of extreme disrespect directly affect a core element of freedom of religion or belief, i.e. everyone’s freedom to define themselves in matters of faith and to communicate their selfunderstandings free from discrimination and free from fear. In some countries Ahmadis experience that this freedom is not only factually encroached but even conceptually denied to them. In the face of ongoing abuses and the systematic persecution suffered by this community, the international community has a responsibility to clearly and loudly speak out against and deal with the violations of freedom of religion or belief of members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community wherever they occur.