TEMPO.CO, Bandung - Public prosecutors have recommended two years in prison for Buni Yani, a defendant in hate speech case. Lead prosecutor Andi M. Taufik considered that Buni Yani has intentionally uploaded an edited video of former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok). “The defendant’s action could create a divide between religious groups,” he said at Bandung District Court yesterday.
Andi said that Buni Yani is guilty of editing a video of Ahok making a remark on a Quranic verse during his visit on the Seribu Islands on September 27. The edited video was later uploaded to Facebook. The defendant is charged under Law No. 11/2008 on Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE).
Read: Buni Yani Charged for Spreading Ahok Speech
Many accused Ahok of committing blasphemy based on the edited video. Massive waves of protests from Islamists were staged coincided with Ahok’s 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial bid, demanding him be jailed.
Police responded by naming Ahok a suspect. North Jakarta District Court later handed him down a 2-year prison sentence on May 9.
Buni Yani’s defense lawyer Aldwin Rahadian said that the charges and sentence request for his client are unreasonable. He said that prosecutors could yet prove that his client has edited the video. “Instead, we have proven that the video was uploaded [first] by Media NKRI [fanpage], uploaded on Facebook, and was shown by Facebook algorithm,” he said. The lawyer has accused the court of being political.
IQBAL T. LAZUARDI S | DANANG FIRMANTO
