become Christians remained detained Tuesday, November 29, after reportedly losing an important appeal.
US-based religious rights group Christian Freedom International (CFI) said it learned that Dr. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun, who serve a three year prison since September in the Indramayu district of West Java province "lost an important appeal" last week, November 22, "to have their sentences reduced or overturned" by a higher court.
"I regret to inform you, after the second phase court level–in Indonesia’s law process system, we have a three phase law court level–the second court judge agreed with the decision of the first court judge," CFI quoted an unidentified pastor as saying. "This means Dr. Rebekka, Etty, and Ratna face a punishment of three years in prison," said the pastor, who reportedly visits the women every week.
They have one appeal left, CFI claimed, but it was not immediately clear when that hearing would take place. The three teachers were sentenced September 1 on charges of "attempting to coerce children to change their religion" under the Indonesian "Child Protection Act."
DENYING CHARGES
The women have denied the charges, which were brought against them by a local Islamic group. The teachers maintain they had instructed the children to get permission from their parents before attending the local church program, and those who did not have permission were asked to go home.
Human rights groups say the detention of the women underscores their concerns over the treatment of minority Christians in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation. Christians comprise roughly eight percent of the country’s nearly 242-million population, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said.
The government has promised to crackdown on Muslim extremism. However the Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) said Tuesday, November 29, that authorities were working on draft regulation intended to govern religious activities in Indonesia.
CONTROVERSIAL LAW
"The present law on religious buildings [for instance] SKB 1/69, has been used by radical Islamists to legally close over 60 churches in the past few months These laws are now being revised to make the situation even more restrictive for minority religions, and will have the effect of denying basic freedom of worship to all religions except Islam," the group said.
It was unclear how it had obtained the information and Indonesian officials were not immediately available for comment.
"These draft regulations have been presented as Christians, and particularly young girls, are being shot and beheaded only because they happen to be Christians," added CFI, which revealed details on the situation on its website http://www.persecution.org
INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION
The political developments were expected to put additional pressure on the Sunday School teachers.
The women gained international attention and the pastor quoted by CFI reported that they "received letters from [their] brother and sisters, who encourage them with words and prayer support, sympathies and also spiritual warfare prayer."
He said "they really appreciated it, and believe that our God in Christ will bless" them all. CFI can be reached via website: http://www.christianfreedom.org (With reports from Indonesia and BosNewsLife Research).
