Indonesian preacher charged with blasphemy, hate speech for allowing women to pray with men

Panji Gumilang faces a five-year jail term for blasphemy, on top of other charges including intentionally causing chaos in public

Conservative groups accuse his school in West Java of following a version of Islam incompatible with the Koran

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Leader of the Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding School, Panji Gumilang, arrives at the Indonesian Police Criminal Investigation Agency in Jakarta on August 1. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:03pm, 2 Aug 2023Updated: 8:07pm, 2 Aug 2023

A Muslim preacher in Indonesia has been arrested on charges including blasphemy and hate speech after his Islamic boarding school provoked protests for allowing women to preach and pray beside men, police said Wednesday.

The Al-Zaytun boarding school in West Java, Muslim-majority Indonesia’s most populous province, has faced backlash from conservative groups that have accused it of following a version of Islam incompatible with the Koran.

School head Panji Gumilang, 77, was detained early on Wednesday after questioning, national police spokesman Ahmad Ramadhan told reporters.

“Investigators took legal action … and he is detained in the criminal investigation agency’s detention facility for 20 days,” he said.

Muslims at an evening prayer session to mark the holy month of Ramadan. Women are typically expected to pray behind men in traditional Islamic prayer. Photo: Reuters

Gumilang faces five years in prison for blasphemy, six for spreading hate speech and 10 on the charge of spreading fake news and intentionally causing chaos in public, according to the charges.