Jail for Jakarta governor Ahok over blasphemy against Islam

Jakarta’s outgoing ethnic Chinese, Christian governor Basuki “Ahok” Purnama was sentenced to two years in jail on Tuesday for blasphemy against Islam, upending expectations that he would be handed a lighter sentence as the contentious trial threatens social harmony in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

The north Jakarta district court ruled that Purnama, 50, was guilty of insulting Islam in a campaign speech to rural residents last September. The penalty imposed was far harsher than the probationary sentence recommended by prosecutors. The five-person panel of judges ordered the immediate arrest of Purnama, commonly known by his Chinese nickname Ahok. The governor said he would appeal the verdict, but prosecutors elected to send him to the high-security Cipinang prison after the court hearing ended at around 11am local time. He was undergoing a medical examination in the afternoon.

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Purnama was found to have “legitimately and convincingly conducted a criminal act of blasphemy,” the head judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto told a packed courtroom. The judges dismissed the defence argument that the case was politically motivated. Thousands of Purnama’s supporters had gathered outside the court venue from the wee hours of Tuesday, and television images showed some sobbing after the verdict was delivered.

At the same venue, anti-Purnama groups broke into cheers after the outcome was announced. The hearing was held inside an auditorium in the agriculture ministry building instead of the court’s original location for security reasons, officials said.

Political observers said the decision would impact social harmony in the country, which is still recovering from the wounds of communal riots in 1997 in which the ethnic Chinese minority was targeted.