ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the character of internal religious rights known as forum internum and the manifestation of religious belief known as forum externum, in international human rights law and Islamic law. To provide a comprehensive context and present the reality of religious freedom for religious minorities, this chapter also examines cases and incidents of the violation of the rights of religious minorities in some countries. The comparative approach is significant in discussing the issue of religious minorities within Islam in the Indonesian context. Thus, the chapter explains three types of religious persecution toward religious minorities within Islam in Indonesia, such as the state-sanctioned enforcement of discriminatory laws, the extra-legal enforcement of discriminatory laws by vigilante groups and mixed cases. The state-sanctioned enforcement actions are examined as part of an argument that the Indonesian government, through legal policies and court decisions, generally discriminates against non-mainstream religious minority groups such as Shi’ah and Ahmadiyah. The extra-legal enforcement of the blasphemy law by vigilante groups is analysed to assert the linkage between the blasphemy law and religious persecution towards religious minorities within Islam. This chapter argues that extra-legal enforcement occurred as the consequence of the existence of discriminatory laws that frequently encourage some majority religious organisations to persecute religious minorities. In mixed cases, government officials usually collaborate with non-state actors to restrict the manifestation of religious beliefs by religious minorities within Islam, which eventually puts them in a very complex situation.
