FPI leader faces a two-year prison term for Monas attack incident

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 10/13/2008 3:30 PM  |  Jakarta

Prosecutors have demanded a two-year prison term for Rizieq Shihab, leader of the Islam Defender Front (FPI), for his alleged role in June's Monas Park attack incident.

Wahyudi, one of the prosecutors, told the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday that Rizieq had been involved in inciting the violence.

On June 1 members of FPI attacked activists from the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion. About 70 activists were injured during the peaceful rally in support of Indonesian pluralism.

According to the prosecutors, prior to the incident Rizieq in his sermon to his followers on May 28 said FPI had to dismember Ahmadiyah, an Islamic minority group, because the Indonesian Ulemas Council had declared the sect heretical.

"The fact that the defendant had been convicted in a another crime and that his action had disturbed the public should be used (as evidence) to incriminate the defendant," he said. (dre)

 

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