This picture taken on December 12, 2020 shows Indonesian Muslim cleric Rizieq Shihab, center, surrounded by his supporters upon arrival at the police headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia. (PHOTO / AFP)
JAKARTA – An Indonesian court on Thursday fined hardline cleric Rizieq Shihab 20 million rupiah (US$1,400) for breaking COVID-19 quarantine rules by appearing at an event that drew thousands of followers.
If not paid, Rizieq will have to serve five months in jail, judge Suparman Nyompa said. Rizieq and his lawyers told the court they would take time before responding to the verdict.
A livestream of the court hearing showed Rizieq Shihab, the spiritual leader of an outlawed Islamist vigilante group – the Islamic Defender’s Front (FPI) – dressed in a white tunic, turban and face mask, clutching prayer beads.
Some 3,000 police officers were deployed to guard the courthouse in East Jakarta ahead of the verdict.
Rizieq came back to Indonesia in November after three years in Saudi Arabia, where he had fled while facing charges of pornography and insulting the state ideology. Both charges were later dropped.
Thousands of Rizieq’s followers had thronged the airport to celebrate his return, and then joined mass events in the days that followed despite rules to limit gatherings as Indonesia grappled with the worst coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia.
Rizieq’s legal team say the cases are politically motivated and part of efforts to silence the cleric, who has a large and vocal following in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country
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The FPI has become politically influential in Indonesia in recent years, and was among several Islamic groups that staged rallies in 2016 to bring down Jakarta’s then Christian governor on charges of blasphemy. The mass protests against the governor caused deep anxiety within the government of President Joko Widodo about a perceived Islamist threat.
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The government has since sought to crackdown on some Islamist groups, including banning FPI and Hizb-ut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI).
In December, police killed six of Rizieq’s supporters in a shootout, saying they acted in self-defence after weapons were pointed at them. The FPI accused the police of carrying out extrajudicial killings.