Prosecutors are set on Tuesday to present witnesses to testify about more allegedly blasphemous remarks made by Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.

Fifi Lety Indra, a lawyer representing Ahok, said prosecutors had announced that they would resummon Bogor Islamic Forum secretary Willyudin Abdul Rasyid who previously reported the governor for alleged blasphemy in a speech he made in Tegallega, Bogor, on Sept. 6.

The court had earlier rejected the possibility of Willyudin providing testimony as it is examining the speech Ahok gave in Thousand Islands regency on Sept. 27.

“Prosecutors have prepared six witnesses, but their examination will depend on the judges. Judges usually only examine four or five witnesses in one hearing,” Fifi told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The other witnesses — Muhammad Asroi Saputra, Iman Sudirman and Ibnu Baskoro — who earlier reported Ahok for his Thousand Islands speech, will also testify.

On Jan. 10, presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto adjourned the hearing after Ahok’s lawyers criticized the validity of Willyuddin’s police report against Ahok.

During the hearing, defense lawyers revealed that Willyudin reported Ahok to the police on Oct. 7 for his speech in Tegallega.

The lawyers said the report was suspicious given that Ahok was now being tried for his statement about a Quranic verse made during a working visit to Thousand Islands.

Dwiarso then ordered the prosecutors to bring the Bogor police officers who were in charge of filing Willyudin’s report.

“To verify [Willyudin’s] report, we order prosecutors to present the police officers,” Dwiarso said before postponing the hearing.

Earlier hearings saw prosecutors presenting witnesses who had reported Ahok for the Thousand Islands speech.

On Jan. 3, prosecutors summoned another four witnesses namely Islam Defenders Front (FPI) Jakarta chapter secretary Novel Bamukmin, Sharia Advocate chairman Gus Joy Setiawan, FPI Jakarta head Muchsin and Antiblasphemy Forum head Syamsu Hilal.

The four all reported Ahok to the police after watching a video of Ahok’s speech, in which he commented on Surah Al Maidah 51 on Sept. 27.

Although the total length of the video is 1 hour and 48 minutes, the witnesses said that they had only focused on the shortened version of the video, in which Ahok’s comments on the Quranic verse run for about 13 seconds.

They said the shorter video clearly showed that Ahok’s statement was blasphemous.

Fifi said the defense team had prepared several witnesses, namely Juhri, Ferry Lukmantara, Suyanto, Fajrun and Analta Amir.

She said Juhri, Ferry, Suyanto and Fajrun had witnessed the way in which several politicians had tried to deter voters from supporting Ahok in the 2007 East Belitung regional election by using Surah Al Maidah 51.

Fifi added that Analta was Ahok’s Muslim godbrother.

She added that defense lawyers did not plan to summon Sheikh Amr al-Wardani, a Quranic interpretation expert from the internationally respected Al-Azhar University in Cairo.

Back in November, it was reported that Ahok’s lawyers would summon Sheikh to testify for Ahok in the case screening.

However, the expert was unable to come to the case screening due to family matters.

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Callistasia Anggun Wijaya

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