Jakarta Police have named three Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) executives as suspects for allegedly campaigning illegally at an anti-Israel rally earlier this month.

Party chairman Tifatul Sembiring, Provincial Board Chairman Triwisaksana and Chairman of the Central Jakarta PKS chapter Agus Setiawan were named suspects on Jan. 7, Sr. Comr. Zulkarnain, a police spokesman, said Wednesday.

“After receiving a report from the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) and questioning several witnesses, the police named the three as suspects for violating election campaign rules,” Zulkarnain said. He added that the party violated a 2008 law which stipulates that campaigning is allowed only in the two months prior to the election.

The Islamic-centric party held a peaceful rally around the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Jan. 2, which drew thousands of supporters, during which they condemned the Israel attacks on Gaza, shouting the slogan “Save Palestine”.

The Panwaslu considered this a disguised campaign move.

“Supporting Palestine is a campaign platform of the PKS,” Panwaslu Chairman Ramdansyah said. Therefore, when party officials shouted ‘Save Palestine’ during speeches in the rally they were practically campaigning, he said.

“That was merely a humanitarian action to defend Palestine, which has suffered a lot because of Israel. How come Panwaslu deemed our rally a campaign?” Tifatul said.

In Bandung, West Java, head of the PKS faction at the House of Representatives, Mahfudz Sidiq, said he was preparing a protest letter to Panwaslu over the allegation.

-Yuli Tri Suwarni from Bandung contributes to this article.

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