NU Reports Anti-Shiite Group to Police Over Use of Logo
Jakarta. Indonesia’s biggest Sunni Islamic organization has lodged a police report against an anti-Shiite movement over the unauthorized use of its logo.
The National Anti-Shiite Alliance, or Annas, was inaugurated on Sunday in Bogor, a Jakarta satellite city, and though not affiliated with the 40-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama, has used the larger group’s in leaflets and other promotional publications.
“This kind of slander has created unrest among NU followers and the public in general,” Ifan Haryanto, the chairman of the Bogor chapter of NU, told reporters after filing a criminal report with the Bogor Police on Monday.
He said his office had already demanded that Annas cease its use of the NU logo after he received a leaflet from the hard-line group a week before Sunday’s event.
He added that the NU had taken to its social media channels to distance itself from Annas, which cites its mission as being to “preach the truth” that Shiites are not true Muslims and that the faith poses a serious threat to national integrity.
Ifan said that because Annas had ignored the NU’s objections, the latter organization was compelled to take the case to the police, leveling charges of criminal defamation that could see the Annas leaders jailed for up to four years.
While the NU is a moderate Sunni movement, Annas is not. The fact that it was founded in Bogor, recently ranked the least tolerant city in the republic, has also not escaped the attention of religious freedom advocates.
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