Jakarta's Christian governor jailed for
blasphemy against Islam
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[May 09, 2017]
By Fergus Jensen and Fransiska Nangoy
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Jakarta's Christian
governor was sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy against Islam
on Tuesday, a harsher than expected ruling that is being seen as a blow
to religious tolerance in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority
nation.
The guilty verdict comes amid concern about the growing influence of
Islamist groups, who organized mass demonstrations during a tumultuous
election campaign that ended with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama losing his bid
for another term as governor.
President Joko Widodo was an ally of Purnama, an ethnic-Chinese
Christian who is popularly known as "Ahok", and the verdict will be a
setback for a government that has sought to quell radical groups and
soothe investors' concerns that the country's secular values were at
risk.
As thousands of supporters and opponents waited outside, the head judge
of the Jakarta court, Dwiarso Budi Santiarto, said Purnama was "found to
have legitimately and convincingly conducted a criminal act of
blasphemy, and because of that we have imposed two years of
imprisonment".
Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch described the verdict as "a huge
setback" for Indonesia's record of tolerance and for minorities.
"If someone like Ahok, the governor of the capital, backed by the
country's largest political party, ally of the president, can be jailed
on groundless accusations, what will others do?,"
Harsono said.
WEEPING SUPPORTERS Purnama told the court he would appeal the ruling.The
governor was taken to an East Jakarta prison after the verdict and his
lawyer Tommy Sihotang said he would remain there despite his appeal
process unless a higher court suspended it.
Shocked and angry supporters, some weeping openly, gathered outside the
prison, vowing not to leave the area until he was released, while others
vented their shock on social media.
Some lay down outside the jail blocking traffic, chanting "destroy FPI",
referring to the Islamic Defenders Front, a hardline group behind many
of the protests against Purnama.
"They sentenced him because they were pressured by the masses. That is
unfair," Purnama supporter Andreas Budi said earlier outside the court.
Home affairs minister Tjahjo Kumolo said Purnama's deputy would take
over in the interim.
Thousands of police were deployed in the capital in case clashes broke
out, but there was no immediate sign of any violence after the court's
verdict.
Prosecutors had called for a suspended one-year jail sentence on charges
of hate speech. The maximum sentence is four years in prison for hate
speech and five years for blasphemy.
Hardline Islamist groups had called for the maximum penalty possible
over comments by Purnama that they said were insulting to the Islamic
holy book, the Koran.
While on a work trip last year, Purnama said political rivals were
deceiving people by using a verse in the Koran to say Muslims should not
be led by a non-Muslim.
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Jakarta's Christian governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known
as Ahok, speaks to his lawyers after the guilty verdict in his
blasphemy trial in Jakarta on May 9, 2017. REUTERS/Bay Ismoyo/Pool
An incorrectly subtitled video of his comments later went viral,
helping spark huge demonstrations that ultimately resulted in him
being bought to trial.
Purnama denied wrongdoing, though he apologized for the comments
made to residents in an outlying Jakarta district.
RADICAL ISLAMIST GROUPS
Purnama lost his bid for re-election to a Muslim rival, Anies
Baswedan, in an April run-off - after the most divisive and
religiously charged election in recent years. He is due to hand over
to Baswedan in October.
If Purnama's appeals failed, he would be prevented from holding
public office under Indonesian law because the offence carried a
maximum penalty of five years, said Simon Butt of the Centre for
Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney.
Analysts say the radical Islamist groups that organized mass
protests against Purnama had a decisive impact on the outcome of the
gubernatorial election.
Rights group fear Islamist hardliners are in the ascendant in a
country where most Muslims practise a moderate form of Islam and
which is home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians,
Buddhists, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.
The government has been criticized for not doing enough to protect
religious minorities but Widodo had urged restraint over the trial
and called for all sides to respect the legal process.
His government said on Monday it would take legal steps to disband
Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), a group that seeks to establish an
Islamic caliphate, because its activities were creating social
tensions and threatening security.
(Additional reporting by Gayatri Suroyo, Darren Whiteside, Tom
Allard and Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing
by Ed Davies and Simon Cameron-Moore)
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