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HEY, CNN: Jakarta’s CHRISTIAN Governor Is Found GUILTY Of Blaspheming The Koran — Is THAT News?

Paging all the moderate Muslims… care to take a gander at THIS story?

Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.

They are also pretty skimpy on human rights for religious minorities.

The governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, is Christian and has been accused of blasphemy against the Koran.

What did Ahok do?

An Indonesian court has sentenced the minority Christian governor of Jakarta to two years in prison for blaspheming the Koran at a trial that undermined the country’s reputation for practicing a moderate form of Islam.

In a tense trial that was widely seen as a test of religious tolerance in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, was “found to have legitimately and convincingly conducted a criminal act of blasphemy, and because of that we have imposed two years of imprisonment“, head judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto told the court.

Ahok was charged with blasphemy after he said clerics had used a Koranic verse to mislead voters by telling them that Muslims were not allowed to vote for a Christian.

He has denied wrongdoing, and said he was not criticising the Koran, but rather the clerics’ interpretation of the verse.

Ahok lost re-election to his Muslim rival, Anies Baswedan, last April in a divisive and religiously charged election.

So, basically, Ahok said that the clerics had misinterpreted the verse in the Koran that they were using to tell people that they couldn’t vote for a Christian.

It may have cost him reelection.

And he was convicted.

Facing two years of jail time.

Wow.

Talk about a weaponized judiciary!

Ahok supporters were devastated and crying outside the courthouse:

Here are Ahok’s opponents celebrating in the street:

The decision against Ahok in the highly touted ‘Moderate Muslim’ country is raising concerns.

Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch has said that the decision is a ‘huge setback’ for minorities in Indonesia.

“This is bad news for Indonesian minorities,” he said.

If someone like Ahok, the governor of the capital, backed by the country’s largest political party, ally of the president, can be jailed on groundless accusations, what will others do?

The tensions whipped up during the Jakarta election have raised concerns about the rising influence of Islamist groups in Indonesia, which is home to sizeable communities of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.

The Government said on Monday it would take legal steps to disband Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), a group that seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate, because its activities were creating social tensions and threatening security.
Read more: ABC News

Share if you think that blasphemy laws are a BAD idea

K. Walker

ClashDaily's Associate Editor since August 2016. Self-described political junkie, anti-Third Wave Feminist, and a nightmare to the 'intersectional' crowd. Mrs. Walker has taken a stand against 'white privilege' education in public schools. She's also an amateur Playwright, former Drama teacher, and staunch defender of the Oxford comma. Follow her humble musings on Twitter: @TheMrsKnowItAll and on Gettr @KarenWalker

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