Militant cleric gets 18 months behind bars for violence
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 10/30/2008 12:20 PM
Central Jakarta District Court has sentenced Islam Defenders
Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab to 1.5 years in prison for
inciting hatred and instigating violence against participants of
a peace rally at the National Monument (Monas) complex in June.
"The defendant is declared legally and convincingly guilty for
transgressing the law. He is therefore sentenced to one year and
six months' imprisonment," Presiding Judge Panusunan Harapan told
the court on Thursday.
According to the magistrate, Rizieq was proven guilty of
"generating animosity and mobilizing others to commit violent
acts against people and people's property in public".
Rizieq was previously accused of enticing FPI members to conduct
a violent ambush of a rally led by the National Alliance for the
Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) at Monas on June 1.
The Court based its decision on evidence from a DVD that clearly
displayed group members wearing FPI attributes as sole attackers in a brawl that left around 70 activists injured.
"There is no sign of AKKBB members provoking the attack," Harapan
said. (amr)
