TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The legal team of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok is disappointed with two years’ jail sentence issued by the panel of judges of the North Jakarta District Court yesterday, May 9. The lawyers said that the judges made the decision under the mass pressure.
“You know it, the mass pressured [the judges] in every trial session,” Ahok’s defense lawyer Tommy Sihotang said ahead of the verdict hearing yesterday.
The panel of judges has sentenced Ahok to two years’ imprisonment for blasphemy and issued a detention order. The verdict is higher than the prosecutors had sought: one year’s jail and two-year probation period.
Ahok’s defense lawyers will file an appeal over the verdict.
In the past quarter of the century, Indonesian judiciary has sent over a dozen of people to jail for blasphemy. Below is a list of major blasphemy cases in Indonesia.
Arswendo Atmowiloto, Chief Editor of “Monitor” Tabloid
Sentence request: 5 years’ jail
Verdict: 5 years’ jail by the Central Jakarta District Court (April 1991)
Lia Eden, leader of a sect called “Tahta Suci Kerajaan Tuhan” (God’s Kingdom of Eden)
Sentence request: 2 years and 6 months’ jail
Verdict: 2 years and 6 months’ jail by Central Jakarta District Court (June 2009)
Tajul Mukul alias Haji Ali Murtadho, Syia community leader in Sampang, East Java
Sentence request: 4 years’ jail
Verdict: 2 years’ in jail by Sampang District Court (July 2012)
Antonius Richmond Bawengan, distributor of blasphemous books and flyers
Sentence request: 5 years’ jail
Verdict: 5 years’ jail by Temanggung District Court (February 2011)
Rusgiani, a housewife, blasphemy against presentation of food offerings to God
Sentence request: 2 years’ jail
Verdict: 14 months’ jail by Denpasar District Court (October 2013)
Six officials of Gerakan Fajar Nusantara (Gafatar)
Request sentence: 4 years
Verdict: Ranging from 3 to 4 years’ jail by Banda Aceh District Court (June 2015)
Abdussalam alias Ahmad Musadeq, Gafatar leader
Sentence request: 12 years’ jail
Verdict: 5 years’ jail by East Jakarta District Court (March 2017)
EVAN | PDAT
