Indonesia restricts Ahmadiyah Islamic group
Updated
Indonesia's government has announced tough restrictions against the minority Ahmadiyah Islamic sect, but stopped short of the explicit ban demanded by hardline Muslims.
The Attorney General's department issued a statement ordering Ahmadiyah to stop spreading beliefs which deviate from orthodox Islam.
It says such activities include the spreading of the belief that there is another prophet with his own teachings after Prophet Mohammed.
The statement came as thousands of hardliners threatened to launch jihad or holy war against Ahmadiyah in angry protests in central Jakarta.
The decision is unlikely to appeal either to moderates who want the government to unequivocally uphold constitutional guarantees of the freedom of religion, or hardliners who wanted an outright ban.
Ahmadiyah has been peacefully practising its faith in the archipelago since the 1920s, but in April a government board for oversight of religious affairs recommended it be disbanded after senior Islamic clerics deemed it deviant.
