It was a bad day for the Christian governor of Jakarta as he was sentenced for blasphemy against Islam in moderate Islamic nation Indonesia.
A while back the North Jakarta District Court handed Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama a 2-year prison sentence after it concluded that the Chinese Christian Jakarta governor was guilty of committing blasphemy against the religion of the majority, Islam.
Protests against Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama began in September 2016 when a video went viral showing him speaking that people were being deceived into believing that Quran states that Muslims must not take a non-Muslim as a leader. This assertion by Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama led to violent protests across Indonesia as this was seen as an insult to the Quran as it was seen that a non-Muslim was trying to interpret Quran which is not allowed. He later tried to explain that by this he only meant that some politicians manipulate the teachings to further their political ambitions. But his pleas fell on deaf ears.
The maximum punishment for blasphemy in Indonesia is 5 years in imprisonment.
Some Protestors not happy with 2 year sentence for Ahok. Wanted 5 pic.twitter.com/cuYdlD3XGq
— Samantha Hawley (@samanthahawley) May 9, 2017
If his blasphemy conviction is upheld, Ahok will be banned from ever holding political office in Indonesia again.
Ahok will appeal the two year jail sentence.
— Samantha Hawley (@samanthahawley) May 9, 2017
Interestingly the people who led the violent campaign against Ahok tried to pull the same punches at the Balinese Hindus as well, only to find themselves isolated but the Christian Chinese governor was just not so lucky.
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