A Muslim preacher in Indonesia has been arrested on charges of blasphemy, hate speech, and false reporting on Tuesday (Aug. 1), Kompas reported.

Panji Gumilang, 77, sparked a backlash among religious conservatives in the country when he allowed women to preach and pray beside men.

Guilty of religious blasphemy

Panji runs the Al-Zaytun boarding school in Indramayu, West Java, which hosts roughly 5,000 students.

According to BBC Indonesia, the boarding school has been in the spotlight since April 2023, when a video of a woman praying in the front row behind an Imam (worship leader of a mosque) during an Eid prayer started circulating in social media. The school allows women to become imams.

Unlike other Islamic boarding schools in the country, Al-Zaytun's prayer sessions do not follow gender segregation, angering some religious conservatives.

Indonesian National Police official Djuhandhani Rahardjo told reporters that Panji will be detained in the Criminal Investigation Agency's detention facility for 20 days after interim examinations found Panji guilty of religious blasphemy.

The police said they were acting on public complaints but did not specify what Panji said or done that constituted blasphemy.

In various interviews with the media, Panji had repeatedly denied various accusations directed at him.

If found guilty of blasphemy and hate speech, Panji faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Rise in religious conservatism

Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, with 231 million Muslims.

It is a constitutionally secular country and officially recognises six religions-- Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

In recent years, the country has seen what Western media dubbed a rise in religious conservatism.

Certain parts of the country, like the semi-autonomous Aceh province, have enforced strict Islamic laws where alcohol and gambling are banned and public floggings take place for certain offences including homosexuality and adultery.

Panji's support of gender equality within Islam has angered the conservatives, which "isn't normal in Indonesian society," Indonesia research at Human Rights Watch Andreas Harsono told CNN.

"There is nothing wrong with him (a Muslim cleric) promoting women’s rights– something is terribly wrong with blasphemy laws,” he added.

Rights groups observed that religious freedom and tolerance are increasingly under threat in the largest Muslim-majority country while blasphemy laws are progressively weaponised against religious minorities and people deemed to have criticised Islam.

Use of blasphemy laws

One of the highest-profile blasphemy cases was that of Jakarta's first non-Muslim governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama who is widely known as Ahok.

Ahok, an ethnic Chinese and Christian, went on trial for blasphemy in 2017 after referencing a verse from the Quran while campaigning for re-election in 2016.

The case was widely seen as a test of religious tolerance and free speech in the largest Muslim-majority country.

He was jailed for two years despite making a public apology.

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Top image via Joanito De Saojoao/Beritasatu.