Indonesian Christian apologist Muhammad Kace is reportedly facing continued harassment because of the persecution perpetrated by Muslims.
The International Christian Concern (ICC) said Kace has a Muslim background and is renowned to rebuke attacks of Muslim preachers against Christians through his YouTube account. This led him to trouble such that he was arrested last August 25 for "insulting Islam."
As per the Union of Catholic Asian News, Kace started criticizing Islam in 2014 after he was became a Christian. The police claimed 400 videos in Kace's YouTube channel are an insult to Islam. In one video, Kace was quoted in saying, "Muhammad is unknown by God and is only known by his followers because he is surrounded by devils."
Kace's difficulty did not end in being arrested. He was tortured by local police, particularly an official named Napoleon Bonaparte, during his detention. Bonaparte, a co-prisoner on charges of corruption, forced Kace "to eat the excrement of himself," claiming that forcing Kace to do such a disgusting and inhumane act was in the service of Allah and of Islam itself since it is allegedly a payback for the latter's insults on the religion.
The ICC highlighted that the local police wanted "to be fair" to Kace and arrested Ustad Yahya Waloni who have also delivered insulting lectures on Islam. However, unlike Kace, complaints on Waloni was not given much attention by the police until after Kace was already in prison. Waloni is said to be a Muslim preacher with a Christian background and similarly arrested on blasphemy charges.
In addition to the difference in the treatment of their arrest, Waloni was also treated differently from Kace during detention. Waloni was immediately given medical treatment when he got sick, but no one paid attention to Kace after he was tortured severely.
"Requests to bring him medicine was turned down by the police, nor were lawyers allowed to meet with Kace. This was revealed by Abraham Ben Moses, the coordinator of Kace's lawyers," the ICC highlighted.
A third difference in treatment could be seen with the "very discriminatory" trial Kace experienced. Accordingly, Kace was transferred to Jakarta after his arrest from Bali and then tried in West Java at the Ciamis District Court. Waloni did not experience any transfers as he was arrested and tried in Jakarta.
Due to the variances in their treatment, protestors would often visit Kace's court to "put pressure on the trial" as it is not hard "not to suspect the motive behind moving" him around.
Theologian Abraham Ben Moses commented on Kace's case in his own YouTube channel. Moses expressed grief that law enforcement in Indonesia is prejudiced against minorities. He called Indonesia a nation of "no morals" for denying justice and truth.
"It is very sad to see how the law is enforced in Indonesia, especially when it relates to those who are minorities. The moral revolution is screaming loudly in this nation. In fact, this nation has no morals in upholding truth and justice, even the center of justice itself cannot find justice. Mohammad Kace is not considered a human in their eyes," Moses said.
Currently, Kace's trial is ongoing and hopefully he will be rendered justice due him considering Indonesia's constitution speaks of it. In particular, Indonesia's 1945 Constitution Article 27 Section 1 points to equality being rendered to every individual. Hopefully, this would be implemented in Kace's case.
"All citizens have the same position under the law," the Indonesian Constitution stated.
Readers are urged to pray for Kace's health and safety, and that he will be treated fairly and given justice due to him.
