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Witnesses call for Ahok's arrest in hearing
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All ready -- Non-active Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama (center) attends his blasphemy trial held in the Agriculture Ministry auditorium in South Jakarta on Tuesday. (Gatra/POOL/Dharma Wijayanto/ via JP)
T
he fourth court session for the blasphemy case implicating Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, which heard witness testimonies, lasted for 11 hours on Tuesday, with all the parties presented calling for the arrest of the non-active governor.
Ahok said all four prosecution witnesses had asked the North Jakarta District Court’s judge panel to detain him. “They all asked the judges to detain me, although it is very unfair," Ahok said after the hearing, which was held at the Agriculture Ministry’s auditorium in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, on Tuesday evening.
The four witnesses were Jakarta-chapter Islam Defenders Front (FPI) secretary general Novel Bamukmin, Sharia Advocate chair Gus Joy Setiawan, FPI Jakarta head Muchsin and Antiblasphemy Forum head Syamsu Hilal.
(Read also: Ahok's lawyers criticize witness' background, noting him as Agus supporter)
Ahok further said all of them had reported him to the police after they watched the shortened video of his speech, in which he cited Surah Al Maidah 51 during a working visit to Thousand Islands on Sept. 27.
“I spoke for an hour and 40 minutes about fish cultivation but they cut my speech on the video to 13 seconds only,” Ahok said.
The governor said the accusation of blasphemy against him was untruthful because he had never intended to insult Islam. He was also confused by the accusation because at that time, none of the Thousand Islands residents were angry with his speech.
Presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto adjourned the trial until Jan. 10 when the prosecutors’ witnesses will offer their testimonies. (ebf)
