FPI to Escort Bahar bin Smith until Trial
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19 December 2018 11:06 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Islamic Defenders Army (LPI), the organizational wing of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), will oversee the case that ensnared the religious lecturer Muhammad Bahar bin Smith. The DPP (central board) FPI spokesperson, Slamet Maarif, said they would continue to escort Bahar from police examination to trial.
“Yes (to escort), since the beginning we have escorted,” he said, contacted on Wednesday, December 19.
At present, Bahar bin Smith is a suspect in a case of insult to President Joko Widodo and a case of alleged persecution.
In his examination at the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim), on December 6, Bahar came escorted by a number of members wearing white clothes that read LPI.
For the case of persecution, the West Java Regional Police set Bahar and five others as suspects. The police suspected Bahar was persecuting CAJ, 18 years old and MKU, 17 years old.
According to police, the persecution happened because the victims claimed to be Bahar while visiting Seminyak, Bali in November.
“After the persecution, the victims were told to fight, then persecuted again until midnight and their parents then reported,” said West Java Regional Police Chief Insp. Gen. Agung Budi Maryoto in his office while holding a press conference about Bahar bin Smith, in Bandung, Tuesday, December 18.
M ROSSENO AJI