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Ahok to be free in January
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Former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama speaks to his lawyers after judges delivered their sentence during the verdict in his blasphemy trial in Jakarta on May 9, 2017. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
F
ormer Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, who was sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy, has had his sentence reduced by two months for Independence Day.
Ade Kusmanto, the spokesperson of the Law and Human Ministry’s Corrections Directorate General, said Ahok would be a free man in January next year.
“[Ahok gets] two months of remission, but he doesn’t directly go free. He will be released in January 2019,” he said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.
Ahok was sentenced to two years in prison for violating the controversial Blasphemy Law in May last year.
Before the announcement of the Independence day remission, Ahok was scheduled to be released in April next year.
Read also: Ahok to finish his term in prison, despite possible August parole
The sentence cut was his second after receiving a 15-day cut during Christmas last year.
He was not eligible to be granted remission on Independence Day last year.
Ahok is also now eligible to apply for parole as he has served two-thirds of his prison term and fulfilled other administrative requirements.
But Ahok, who on Thursday released a book that he penned in jail titled Kebijakan Ahok (Ahok’s Policies), has said he is committed to completing his term.
