breathing holes

thedailywhat:

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: A man from Dharmasraya in the West Sumatra province of Indonesia was arrested today for blasphemy after he allegedly created a Facebook fan page for Minang atheists on which he expressed his personal disbelief in God, angels, the devil, and other “myth.”

The page had garnered over 1,400 likes by Friday afternoon.

The local police chief told The Jakarta Post Alexander Aan’s arrest was directly related to the statements he made on Facebook. “He has triggered unrest among local residents,” Adj. Sr. Comr. Chairul Azis is quoted as saying.

Aan was reportedly dragged to the police station after being beaten by a mob of angry men outside the government planning offices where he works. 

Following the arrest, the 31-year-old civil servant stood by his words. “He said he realized what he had said and was prepared to lose his job to defend his beliefs,” the police chief told the paper.

If convicted, Aan faces the possibility of spending five years behind bars.

An update recently posted to Facebook claims Alexander Aan was not the page’s founder, but simply an administrator.

“Now we cancel his admin status and remove all of his posts, and he is no longer be responsible of what is going on this page,” reads the update. “We will continue our support to him and we condemn all of the brutality ans his [arrest] by the police.” 

[jakartapost / bbcnews / facebook.]