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Indonesian province imposes sharia on non-Muslims

February 17, 2014

The government of Aceh, an Indonesian province whose population is 98% Muslim, has extended the enforcement of sharia law to non-Muslims, The Jakarta Post reported.

“It would be unfair if Muslims were punished while non-Muslims were not, just because sharia violations are not stipulated in the criminal code,” said Abdulah Saleh, a provincial official.

Alcohol consumption carries a penalty of six to nine lashes, and police are warning non-Muslim women that they must wear headscarves. The Fides news service reports the 62 people have been detained in Aceh in recent days for "inappropriate clothing." Christian leaders in the Indonesian province have decried the new directives as "harmful for human rights and religious freedom."

Overall, the Southeast Asian nation of 251 million is 86% Muslim, 6% Protestant, 3% Catholic, and 2% Hindu.

 


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  • Posted by: jg23753479 - Feb. 17, 2014 1:48 PM ET USA

    A taste of the future for all those Western Christians who think good will is all that's needed to come to some accommodation with the brutal ideology of Mohammed and his followers. There is also some bad news here for those Western atheists (practical and otherwise) who think all religions are pretty much the same. When Western heads begin to roll under Mohammedan swords (truly roll!), those of atheists and "agnostics" in our "intelligentsia" will surely hit the ground first.