Abraham Ben Moses

Update May 10, 2019

VOM workers report Abraham Ben Moses received parole on April 26, 2019. He is back home with his family, but he must report weekly to the police station.

Update May 8, 2018

In May 2018, Abraham Ben Moses was sentenced to four years in prison along with a 50 million rupiah fine ($3,500) on blasphemy charges.

Prisoner Details

Abraham Ben Moses, also known as Saifuddin Ibrahim, is a well-known former Muslim and Christian apologist in Indonesia. He was active in Internet evangelism and debates with Muslim groups.

Abraham, 53, was arrested on Dec. 5, 2017, after a video showing him sharing his faith with a Muslim taxi driver was widely circulated. In the video, he can be heard speaking with the taxi driver about the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings on marriage. He can also be heard asking the driver to convert to Christianity. Shortly afterward, Indonesia’s second largest Islamic organization filed a complaint against the evangelist, citing his Internet evangelism as a basis for blasphemy charges. Abraham, who is from Tangerang, Java, faces the possibility of five years in prison if convicted.

Abraham was born in a large Muslim family. His father was an Islamic teacher, his uncle founded a prominent Muslim organization and his father-in-law was also an Islamic teacher. Abraham graduated with a degree in Comparative Religion and went on to teach at Indonesia’s largest Islamic boarding school, whose mosque accommodates 15,000.

In 2005, Abraham began studying the Bible in order to disprove the Christian faith. Instead, Abraham became convinced that the Bible was the truth and publicly became a Christian on March 4, 2006. Since then, he’s been active in debates and online, discussing the differences between Christianity and Islam.

His Muslim wife eventually left him, and in 2014 he married another Muslim convert to Christianity. His wife, Ayu, was pregnant when he was arrested, and she later gave birth to their daughter. Abraham also has four adult children from his first marriage.