Ethiopia jails hundreds after Muslims burned 69 churches on "rumor" of desecrated Qur'an

The judiciary appears to realize that rewarding such behavior through inaction or half-measures will invite more of it.

This incident always had the appearance of a rampage in need of an excuse. Constructing new churches and repairing old ones is forbidden under Islamic law, and connecting the rumored desecration with the construction of a church creates the implication that the act was a “Christian” ritual. All the better to incite the easily enraged to take out as many churches as they could.

An update on this story. “Ethiopia jails hundreds in Muslim attacks on Christians over Koran rumour,” from Reuters, July 2 (thanks to Bernard):

An Ethiopian court has sentenced 558 people to jail terms ranging from six months to 25 years for attacks on Christians that displaced thousands and led 69 churches to be burned to the ground. More than 4,000 members of local Protestant denominations were forced to flee near the town of Asendabo, some 300 kilometres (186 miles) west of the capital, in March during a rare bout of religious violence.

Mobs of Muslim youths carried out week-long attacks on Protestants after rumours that desecrated pages from the Koran had been found at a church construction site. Authorities reported a single death from the attacks.

“They were punished for their involvement in instigating and participating in religious disturbances in western Ethiopia,” government spokesman Shimelis Kemal said of the court cases. Forty-four people were acquitted.

Regional officials told Reuters almost all the displaced people have returned to their homes, some of which were repaired with support from local Muslims. Authorities, keen to avoid further fall-out between the two groups, have held several meetings in the area and claim normalcy has returned.

In March, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi blamed a little-known local Muslim group of preaching intolerance in the region, and warned of growing religious tensions in the Christian-dominated country. “We knew that they were peddling this ideology of intolerance, but it was not possible for us to stop them administratively because they are within their rights,” he said.

The Horn of Africa nation is 60 percent Christian, a majority being followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and 30 percent Muslim. March’s attacks came as a major surprise in a country where most take pride in centuries-old coexistence and intermarriage.

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