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Police to detain Rizieq for evading questioning of alleged pornography case
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Stay defiant -- Islam Defenders Front (FPI) Habib Rizieq Shihab gives a press statement after his questioning at the Jakarta Police station on Jan. 23. (Antara/Reno Esnir)
T
he Jakarta Police announced on Friday that they would detain the firebrand leader of Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Rizieq Shihab, as soon as he returned to the country after Rizieq failed to show up twice for questioning as a witness in a pornography case.
“We have sent Rizieq an invitation for questioning, but he did not respond nor attend the questioning as scheduled. Therefore, once he returns, we will detain him immediately,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said, adding that the details would be elaborated on later by the investigators.
Rizieq’s lawyer, Kapitra Ampera, said on April 27 that Rizieq went on a minor haj (umrah) with his family. He has not returned to Indonesia since.
As a witness, Rizieq has twice evaded a police questioning for a pornography case allegedly involving him and a treason suspect, Firza Husein.
The police first summoned Rizieq, Firza, Rizieq’s wife and a friend of Firza’s as witnesses on April 25. However, none of them showed up.
According to Argo, the police summoned Rizieq again on May 8 for questioning scheduled on May 10.
Argo confirmed that Rizieq was still abroad, but refused to inform reporters about the latter’s exact whereabouts.
“We are not trying to criminalize him. [We want to question him] because he was reported and we followed up with the report,” he said. (dea)
