Wednesday, May 21, 2025
51.0°F

Indonesia bans militant group Islamic Defenders Front

Edna Tarigan | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 4 months AGO
by Edna Tarigan
| December 30, 2020 12:09 AM

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia on Wednesday banned a militant Muslim group with a long record of vandalizing nightspots, hurling stones at Western embassies and attacking religious rivals.

The security affairs minister, Mohammad Mahfud, told reporters that the Islamic Defenders Front, known by its Indonesian acronym FPI, had continued to carry out activities that violate order and security even though it was disbanded last year as a mass organization.

The government also banned the use of the FPI symbols and attributes.

The group, which wants Islamic Shariah law to apply to Indonesia’s 230 million Muslims, has gained significant influence in recent years through humanitarian and charity work. It was a key organizer of massive street protests in 2016 and 2017 against the Christian governor of Jakarta, who was subsequently imprisoned for blasphemy.

Its leader, Rizieq Shihab, turned himself in to authorities earlier this month after he was accused of inciting people to breach pandemic restrictions by holding events with large crowds.

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

Indonesian cleric turns himself in for COVID-19 violation
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 4 years, 5 months ago
Indonesian cleric turns himself in for COVID-19 violations
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 4 years, 5 months ago
Firebrand Indonesian cleric returns from 3-year Saudi exile
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 4 years, 6 months ago

ARTICLES BY EDNA TARIGAN

Students provide sanitizers to daily workers to fight virus
March 27, 2020 10:10 p.m.

Students provide sanitizers to daily workers to fight virus

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — They toil on the fringes, without any job security or set hours or decent wages. And the coronavirus has made their already difficult lives harder, and more hazardous.

Students provide sanitizers to daily workers to fight virus
March 28, 2020 1:10 a.m.

Students provide sanitizers to daily workers to fight virus

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — They toil on the fringes, without any job security or set hours or decent wages. And the coronavirus has made their already difficult lives harder, and more hazardous.

March 28, 2020 10:03 p.m.

Quake shakes eastern Indonesia amid virus outbreak

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong inland and shallow earthquake hit parts of Indonesia's Sulawesi island late Saturday night, sending people fleeing despite appeals by officials to keep distance to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.