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Rally leader asks protesters to accept Ahok's verdict
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Police place a barbed-wire barricade at the State Palace in Jakarta before a March 31 rally against Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. (JP/Seto Wardhana.)
A
n organizer of a rally on Friday against Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has asked protesters to respect whatever verdict the court brings down in the Jakarta governor's trial on blasphemy charges.
Bachtiar Nasir, chairman of an organization called Safeguard the Indonesian Ulema Councils Fatwa (GNPF-MUI) formed specifically to stage protests against the governor and see him sent to prison because of comments he made about how some people had used a verse of the Quran to dissuade Jakartans from voting for him, said everyone at the May 5 rally should accept the ruling scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday.
"You are ready to accept the decision right?" Bachtiar told people gathered at the Grand Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta on Friday, as quoted by tempo.co.
He added that the protesters must believe there would be justice from God if the court failed to deliver the verdict they wanted.
The protesters, he said, must maintain the peace and refrain from any violence, such as brawling with security officers.
The GNPF-MUI organized a rally on Friday to demand the maximum five-year sentence for Ahok, even though the prosecutors themselves admitted they could not prove he was guilty of blasphemy. The North Jakarta District Court will hand down a ruling on May 9. (idb)
