Christian Governor in Indonesia Found Guilty of Blasphemy Against Islam

[ariel]

JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian court found the Christian governor of the country’s capital, Jakarta, guilty of blasphemy against Islam on Tuesday, sentencing him to two years in prison in a case widely seen as a test of religious tolerance and free speech.

The governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, was defeated last month by Anies Baswedan, a former minister of education and culture, in an election in which the blasphemy case, and religion, became a major issue.

Blasphemy is a crime in Indonesia, a secular democracy with the world’s largest Muslim population.

The sentence was harsher than what prosecutors had asked for. They had recommended a sentence of two years’ probation on a lesser charge, which would have spared Mr. Basuki prison time. He began his sentence on Tuesday. The vice governor is to serve as acting governor until October, when Mr. Anies takes office.

Mr. Basuki told reporters that he would appeal the ruling, as supporters outside the North Jakarta District Court looked on in shock.

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Hard-line Islamic groups opposing Mr. Basuki were seen celebrating.

Shortly after the verdict, the governor was taken to Cipinang Penitentiary in Jakarta, which houses criminals including drug dealers and rapists. Under Indonesia’s procedural code, the governor was not eligible to remain free during his appeal because the possible sentence he faced was at least five years, according to legal experts.

Mr. Basuki became governor of Jakarta, the country’s political, social and economic center, in 2014 when his predecessor and chief political ally, Joko Widodo, became president. Mr. Basuki, known as Ahok, was only the city’s second non-Muslim governor and had hoped to become its first directly elected non-Muslim leader.

He had been leading in the polls last year, but in September his campaign faltered when he tried to address attacks from Muslim hard-liners who argued that the Quran forbade Muslims from voting for a non-Muslim. Mr. Basuki said those making that argument were misleading Muslims, a statement that was interpreted by some as insulting the Quran.Conservative Muslim groups organized several mass rallies against him, demanding that he be jailed for blasphemy. Mr. Basuki and his supporters claimed the protests were orchestrated by his political rivals to sabotage his chances of re-election.

His 16-point defeat last month was seen as a sign of the increasing power of Islamic conservatives, who have pressed for the adoption of Islamic law, or Shariah, throughout the archipelago.

Indonesia has more than 190 million Muslims and smaller numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists among its population of 250 million.
The five-judge panel unanimously voted that Mr. Basuki was “proved legally and convincingly guilty of committing the criminal act of blasphemy,” the head judge, Dwiarso Budi Santiarto, said in reading the ruling.

The blasphemy law was created in 1965, and only a handful of people were prosecuted under that law during the next 40 years, according to Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian researcher for Human Rights Watch.


However, he said, the number of people convicted of blasphemy skyrocketed to 106 from 2004 to 2014, during the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Mr. Joko’s predecessor. Mr. Yudhoyono’s son was eliminated in the first round of the governor election in February.

Mr. Yudhoyono twice publicly denied that he had orchestrated the protests to damage Mr. Basuki’s candidacy.

“It’s a sad day, and it’s frightening,” Mr. Andreas said. “If the governor of Indonesia’s largest and most complex city, and who is an ally of the Indonesian president, can be brought down and humiliated this way, what will happen to normal Indonesian citizens?”

The home affairs minister, Tjahjo Kumolo, told reporters that because the court ordered Mr. Basuki to begin his sentence immediately, Vice Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat would serve as acting governor until October.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/w...slam.html?_r=0

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Allah doesn't have relatives. Imagine what they can do with jews...

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[Loki]

Jakarta's Christian governor jailed for blasphemy against Islam



Jakarta's Christian governor has been sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy, a harsher-than-expected ruling critics fear will embolden hardline Islamist forces to challenge secularism in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

Tuesday's guilty verdict for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama comes amid concern about the growing influence of Islamist groups, who organized mass rallies during a tumultuous election campaign that ended with 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".

Purnama told the court he would appeal.

Charles Santiago, chairman of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), a grouping of regional lawmakers overseeing rights issues, said: "Indonesia was thought to be a regional leader in terms of democracy and openness. This decision places that position in jeopardy and raises concerns about Indonesia’s future as an open, tolerant, diverse society."

The United Nations' Bangkok Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in a tweet said: "We are concerned by jail sentence for Jakarta governor for alleged blasphemy against Islam. We call on Indonesia to review blasphemy law."

WEEPING SUPPORTERS

Purnama 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 expressed their shock on social media.

Some lay down outside the jail blocking traffic, others shook the barbed-wire topped fence of the prison, while some chanted "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.

But Novel Bamukmin, a leader of the Jakarta chapter of FPI, said the group objected to the sentence "because it was still far from what we had expected."

President Widodo urged all parties to respect the court verdict as well as Purnama's decision to appeal.

Home affairs minister Tjahjo Kumolo said Purnama's deputy would take over in the interim.

Thousands of police were deployed in case clashes broke out, but there was no sign of any violence after the 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.

An incorrectly subtitled video of his comments later went viral, helping spark huge demonstrations that ultimately resulted in him being brought 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 appeal fails, he would be prevented from holding public office under Indonesian law because the offense carries a maximum penalty of five years, said Simon Butt of the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney.

Song Seng Wun, regional economist at CIMB Private Banking, said that the verdict was "not a huge shock" to investors because most blasphemy cases in Indonesia end in convictions.

"Going forward, race and religion will continue to be played out and be used by politicians for whatever agenda that they have," Song said, adding significant capital outflow was only likely if there was a deterioration of law and order.

Rights groups fear Islamist hardliners are in the ascendancy 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.

Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch described the verdict as "a huge setback" for Indonesia's record of tolerance and for minorities.

Widodo's government said this week 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.