Former Jakarta Governor Appeals Quran Blasphemy Sentence

TEHRAN (IQNA) – Former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja “Ahok” Purnama has petitioned Indonesia’s top court to overturn his blasphemy ­conviction, which raised concern that pluralism and religious tolerance were waning in the Muslim-majority country.

A Supreme Court spokesman confirmed Ahok filed for a review of his conviction on February 2, with the legal documents prepared by a law firm belonging to the former governor’s sister Fifi Lety Indra. 

“There is no new evidence submitted. The documents stated that the judges have made a great error in issuing the guilty verdict, arguing that it contradicted another court ruling,” the spokesman said. 

The spokesman refused to elaborate on the legal arguments made by Ahok’s lawyers. 

Neither Ms Indra nor other lawyers in her law firm could be reached for comment. 

Ahok was represented by 32 lawyers when he stood accused of blaspheming Islam in a September 2016 speech. The ethnic Chinese Christian governor challenged a religious edict from conservative clerics that the Quran forbade Muslims from voting for non-Muslims. 

The speech prompted conservatives to launch a series of rallies in the capital, drawing hundreds of thousands of people calling for his jailing.

I Wayan Sudirta, one of the lawyers involved in the blasphemy case, said Ahok chose to be represented only by his sister for the review. “Other lawyers who were involved in the lower-court case were not included,” Mr Sudirta said. He said the team had been considering lodging a case review for many months. 

Ahok was sentenced to two years’ jail last May. Support for an appeal grew in November, however, when a West Java court found Buni Yani, a Muslim, guilty of inciting religious and ethnic tension for editing footage of Ahok’s speech to make his comments about the Quranic verse appear more inflammatory. 

Mr Sudirta said that ruling seemed at odds with Ahok’s conviction, which argued that even without Yani’s editing, he had blasphemed by questioning the verse’s interpretation. 

“But the situation was very different then. He was sure that filing an appeal then would only aggravate the situation. He is a very (calculating) man. He knew that filing a case review when the time is right was the better option,” he said. 

Mr Sudirta said although Ahok would be eligible for parole as early as Independence Day, August 17, it was important for him to clear his name. “He believes he is innocent and will fight for it,” he said.

Source: Malaysian Digest