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Court sentences Saracen member to 32 months in prison
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T
he Pekanbaru District Court in Riau has sentenced M. Abdullah Harsono, a member and administrator of Saracen an online syndicate believed to have been involved in creating and spreading hoax news for money, to 32 months in prison.
On Thursday afternoon, the panel of judges found Abdullah guilty of "intentionally spreading information to incite hate" on social media and violating the Electronic Information and Transactions Law.
The bench said Abdullah had committed his crimes between April and Aug. 2015 from his residence in Pekanbaru.
For instance, he led a hate speech campaign against President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo through an account in the name of Harsono Abdullah.
Abdullah had also used the name Muhammad Ali Firdaus to spread hate speech on Facebook to spearhead an anti-Chinese campaign.
"Therefore, the panel sentences the defendant to two years and eight months in prison," presiding judge Martin Ginting said.
Thursday’s sentence fell short of the four years prosecutors had sought.
Abdullah was arrested on Aug. 30 last year at his residence in Pekanbaru, a month after police arrested Jasriadi, Saracen’s alleged leader. (ipa)
