Indonesia Bans Islamic Defenders Front After Arresting its Firebrand Leader

Indonesia banned the hardline Islamic Defenders Front, the government announced Wednesday, weeks after arresting its scandal-ridden cleric for breaking coronavirus restriction rules.

Chief security minister Mahfud MD told reporters the group, known by its Indonesian acronym FPI, “is no longer considered legal, both as a community-based organization and an ordinary organization.”

The ban comes after FPI leader Muhammad Rizieq Shihab returned from exile in Saudi Arabia last month and was later arrested by Indonesian authorities for staging mass gatherings despite local COVID-19 restrictions. One saw thousands of attendees gather at Rizieq’s home in Central Jakarta for his daughter’s wedding.

Better known as Habib Rizieq, he fled to Saudi Arabia in 2017 after being hit with pornography charges and for allegedly insulting Pancasila, Indonesia’s state ideology. The 55-year-old cleric had previously been jailed for inciting violence.

Since its establishment in 1998, FPI has actively championed conservative Islamic views and denounced values of multiculturalism and religious pluralism common throughout Muslim-majority Indonesia.

Although FPI was disbanded as a community-based organization in June 2019, it has continued to engage in illegal activities that “disturb public order and security,” such as “violent behavior, unlawful raids, and provocation,” Mahfud said.

The group gained notoriety for vigilante attacks on nightlife spots and against religious minorities.

But during his dramatic return to Indonesia from Saudi Arabia on Nov. 10, Rizieq was met by tens of thousands of fervent supporters, whose sheer numbers stalled highway traffic and caused the delay or cancellation of flights. Experts estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of FPI members in Indonesia.

Earlier this month six of them were killed in clashes with police.

Indonesia has taken a firmer hand with religious hardliners in recent years. In 2017, the government banned the Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir. Officials have argued that the crackdown was a step towards a “healthier democracy,” but some viewed the government’s response as heavy-handed and a threat to human rights.