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More arrests made as Indonesia awaits blasphemy probe
[AA.TR] Five students have been tossed in the slammer... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... for allegedly attacking police personnel after they were identified from images taken during disturbances that followed a mass demonstration against a governor seen to insult the Koran. Tuesday's arrests comes as the country awaits a live television show on the allegations made against Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, due to be broadcast Nov. 15 or 16. Jakarta police spokesperson Commissioner Awi Setiyono said Tuesday that the five are members of an Islamic organization involved in Friday's protest and they were arrested early Tuesday in various places in the capital. "They are all members of the Islamic Students Association (HMI)," Setiyono told Anadolu Agency by phone. The men are being held on charges of committing violent affray on Friday when trouble broke out outside the presidential palace after what had been a peaceful protest against Ahok by around 100,000 Moslems. The governor -- a Christian -- is accused of publicly insulting Islam, however he says he was calling for people not to be "deceived" by those using a Koranic verse, Al Maidah: Chapter 51, not that the verse itself was insulting. Setiyono said Tuesday that one of those held was a 23-year-old man caught on a news hound's camera trying to hit police with a bamboo pole. "He attacked police after his friends did," said Setiyono. "They were provoked after someone read over loudspeakers that they should not be afraid [of the police] and move forward." On Tuesday, national police spokesperson Commissioner Martinus Sitompul told Anadolu Agency that police would carry out President Joko Widodo's order to perform a transparent case screening on national television next week. "The case is planned for Tuesday or Wednesday," said Sitompul. The live legal broadcast is the first of its kind in Indonesia, and organized to answer any questions the public may have, while dealing with any accusations of bias Posted by: Fred 2016-11-09 |
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