Facebook comment lands atheist in jail

Human rights activists and religious scholars in Indonesia are demanding the release of a man who wrote on Facebook that he did not believe in God.

Alexander An, a 31-year-old civil servant, is facing five years in prison after being charged with defamation of religion.

He says he started to question the existence of God when he was a child.

Although the country is officially secular, every Indonesian has to have a religion and register himself according to one of the official five religions.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen reports from Dharmasraya in West Sumatra.