Jakarta (AsiaNews/Compass) – Three Christian teachers accused of proselytism will remain in jail after Indonesia’s Constitutional Court rejected a claim that the law under which they were charged was unconstitutional. Instead, the judges ruled that the Child Protection Act is in line with the constitution and should not be amended. Rev Ruyandi Hutasoit, from the Church of the Shining Christian, had called for the law to be reviewed on the grounds that whilst it bans deceit, lies and enticement to convert a child, it also does not respect freedom of religion guaranteed under the constitution.

Rebbeca Loanita, Etty Pangesti and Ratna Mala Bangun, who ran a Sunday school in their village in Indramayu District (West Java), were sentenced to three years in jail for violating the 2002 Child Protection Act after members of the local Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI or Muslim Clerics Council) accused them of trying to convert Muslim children even though none of the Muslim children attending the Sunday school were ever converted, and all of them took part in the school’s activities with their parents’ permission.

Human rights activists have complained that the continuous presence in the courthouse of Islamic extremists influenced the judges’ decision to convict the three women.

In September 2005, their defence lawyer applied for a review of the sentence to the High Court in Bandung but his motion was turned down two months later.

At this juncture, Reverend Hutasoit intervened through his attorney who presented a request for changes to the law on the grounds that it did not conform to the constitution. But on January 17, the Constitutional Court ruled against him since the law clearly bans the use of “deceit and force” in conversions.

Now the three teachers can only hope in an appeal before a higher court.