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Double whammy for Ahok
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Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama waves upon arriving at the Cipinang Detention Center in East Jakarta on Tuesday (May 9, 2017). (Antara/Ubaidillah)
J
akarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama was surely not born under a lucky star, as less than a month after losing the election he is being forced to become an inmate of the Cipinang detention center in East Jakarta after a court sentenced him to two years in prison for blasphemy.
During the final hearing on Tuesday, the five-judge panel of the North Jakarta District Court ended the six-month trial by stating that Ahok was guilty of blasphemy and ordering he be put behind bars.
The decision was a shock, as the judges disregarded the prosecutors’ recommendation to sentence the governor to two years’ probation for insulting Muslim leaders, as stipulated in Article 156 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).
The judges also ignored the prosecutors’ decision to drop the blasphemy charge against Ahok, a decision the prosecutors made because they admitted they could not prove he violated Article 156a of the KUHP concerning blasphemy.
Contradicting the statements prosecutors made on April 20, the judge said that the speech Ahok gave during a visit to the Thousand Islands on Sept. 27 was blasphemous as he said that some people had been “deceived” by other people who had been misusing verse Al Maidah 51 from the Quran.
That controversial verse is widely believed to prohibit Muslims from electing a non-Muslim leader.
The judicial panel, led by Dwiarso Budi Santiarto, said that by connecting the term “deceived” with verse Al Maidah 51, Ahok said the verse was a tool to deceive the people and therefore the source of a lie.
