The panel of the judges watched videos containing several speeches delivered by Ahok in which he quoted Al Maidah 51, a Quranic verse widely used by anti-Ahok politicians to unseat the non-Muslim governor.

Besides Ahok's controversial speech in Thousand Islands on Sept. 27 that brought him to the court, the prosecutors also played videos containing an interview with Ahok at City Hall on Oct. 7 and a speech he made at the NasDem Party headquarters on Sept. 26.

The three videos, in which Ahok complained that the Al Maidah 51 verse was used against him every time he ran in an election, were shown to the court to suggest that the governor had intentionally quoted the verse multiple times even though he was not a Muslim.

“Defendant, is it correct that it is you that is in those videos,” presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto asked Ahok after he watched the video, to which the defendant replied in the affirmative.

Ahok’s lawyer Ryan Ernest said he was aware that the prosecutors were trying to build a narrative that implied his client had tried to interpret the Quranic verse despite not being a Muslim.

“But, the judge must know the context of those videos. My client was only trying to share his experience when running in an election, he did not try to interpret the Quran,” Ryan said.

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