Jakarta - Restrictions imposed against a minority Muslim sect have provoked discontent in Indonesia with human rights groups on Wednesday denouncing the decree and hardliner groups demanding Ahmadiyah be outlawed.

"The decree ran counter to the constitution, which guarantee the basic rights of citizen," said Taufik Basari from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation. "Given these considerations, we demand the government reverse the decree."

Usman Hamid - the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, a human rights group - said the order could be interpreted many ways and it "could lead to further conflicts in the future."

The joint ministerial decree issued Monday fell short of an outright ban on Ahmadiyah demanded by fundamentalists but ordered the sect's members to stop practising their form of Islam or face possible imprisonment if they continued to deviate from the mainstream faith.

Ahmadiyah leaders said they do not recognize the decree and are considering filing an appeal.

Muslim hardliners - including Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, accused by Western countries as being the spiritual leader of the region's al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah - said the decree did not go far enough and demanded a ban.

"The decree has failed to met the demands of the Islamic community," Ba'asyir said. "We demand the government upgrade the decree to quickly disband Ahmadiyah. Ahmadiyah has disgraced Islam."

Mainstream Muslims reject Ahmadiyah's claim of the prophethood of its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who died in 1908 in India. Most Muslims believe that Mohammed is the last of the prophets.

Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni urged members of Ahmadiyah to not violate the decree, saying the group could face possible closure if it failed to obey and respect the ruling.

"This decree is only a first step," Basyuni told the Koran Tempo, an Indonesian daily. "If it fails, we can recommend to the president to disband [Ahmadiyah]."

More than 500 Muslims from various Islamic organizations in two districts of West Java province took to the streets Wednesday to demand Ahmadiyah be banned.

Controversy over Ahmadiyah has led to violence with hardliner groups attacking and burning the sect's mosques and other properties. Last week, members of the Islamic Defenders Front attacked an interfaith rally in support of Ahmadiyah. Dozens of people were wounded.

Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of worship, but a national law allows only five official religions - Islam, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, where nearly 88 per cent of its 225 million people are Muslims. Most are moderates who tolerate other beliefs. (dpa)