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Istiqlal, Police forbid rally to defend Rizieq
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Thousands of members of hard-line Muslim groups gather for a protest march after Friday prayers on Oct. 14, 2016 at Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta, demanding legal proceedings against Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. (JP/Callistasia Anggun Wijaya)
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stiqlal Mosque management body has not granted people permission to hold a rally to defend the wanted leader of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) Rizieq Shihab in the mosque compound planned on Friday.
“There is no permission for that,” Istiqlal Mosque management body head Muhammad Muzammil Basyuni said on Thursday as quoted by tribunnews.com, adding that the mosque had released a letter explaining that they did not give permission to any party who wanted to hold a rally at the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia.
A group of people, who call themselves the Alumni 212 after a group who joined the Dec. 2 rally in Jakarta last year that demanded the prosecution of then Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama over his blasphemy case, claimed that some 500,000 are expected to join a rally to defend fugitive firebrand cleric Rizieq Shihab at Istiqlal.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan has also opposed the idea. “What is the purpose of the rally? No matter how you want to fight it, the government won’t be afraid. The law has been enforced,” Iriawan said on Thursday.
The Jakarta Police named Rizieq a suspect in a pornography case related to an allegedly sexual conversation with Firza Husein, who had earlier been named a suspect in the same case. (hol)
