Purnama had “deliberately” and “convincingly” blasphemed, the judges found.
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The jailing of Jakarta’s Christian governor on blasphemy charges has sparked outrage from his supporters in Indonesia, rights organisations and the European Union.
“It’s hard to see this for anything other than what it appears – a politically-motivated sentence to appease hardline Islamists groups and politicians with a vested interested in seeing Ahok’s political career go up in smoke”, said Brennan.
After Ahok’s loss, the prosecution tried to shift its charge from Article 156a of the judicial code, which pertains to religious offenses, to Article 156, which addresses general “hostility, hatred or humiliation to any or some of the Indonesian people”.
The sentence is harsher than most observers had expected and prosecutors had called for a suspended one-year sentence, the BBC reported.
Security was tight as protesters and supporters gathered at the court in Jakarta and around 15,000 security personnel from the police and military are providing security at the scene, with riot police and armored vehicles separating rival groups. It was also instrumental in causing Ahok’s defeat in the 19 April gubernatorial election. He criticized political opponents who used the verse to discourage Muslims from voting for non-Muslim leaders. However, he lost in the final round to Indonesia’s former education and culture minister, Anies Baswedan, who had courted the Muslim vote and played the religion card throughout the campaign.
Regardless of the eventual sentence, prominent political scientist Arbi Sanit said Tuesday’s verdict stands as a potent win for rising Islamist politics in Indonesia. “But it is overstating events to equate this with the death of moderate Islam in Indonesia”, Brennan told CNBC.
The law has been in existence since 1965 and only a handful has been prosecuted so far.
Outside the court, Syamsu Hilal, a member of a hard-line Muslim group who reported Ahok to police past year, said justice had been upheld.
Activists say the growing use of the blasphemy law curbs free speech and is one example of minorities coming under increased pressure.
Ahok was immediately detained after the verdict and taken to the Cipinang detention center in East Jakarta.
The Ahok case has been watched closely as a marker of the commitment to religious tolerance and pluralism in Indonesia, where religious hardliners have been playing an increasingly prominent role in politics. “Therefore we will appeal”.
The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) also expressed concern, stating that the verdict could put Indonesia’s position as a regional leader “in jeopardy and raises concerns about Indonesia’s future as an open, tolerant, diverse society”, said Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian Parliament and APHR chair.
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If Purnama’s appeal fails, he would be prevented from holding public office under Indonesian law because the offense carries a maximum penalty of five years, said Simon Butt of the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney.
