Indonesia court sentences firebrand cleric to 8 months' jail

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian court sentenced a politically influential firebrand cleric to eight months in prison on Thursday for violating health protocols by holding gatherings attended by thousands of supporters during the coronavirus outbreak.

The panel of three judges at East Jakarta District Court, which was under heavy police and military guard, ruled that Rizieq Shihab had breached pandemic restrictions with events commemorating Prophet Muhammad’s birthday and the wedding of his daughter. He was also fined 20 million rupiah ($1,400) for a mass gathering in West Java.

The gatherings took place less than a week after his arrival from a three-year exile in Saudi Arabia. Shihab has been detained since Dec. 13. The judges ordered the time he has already served to be deducted from his sentence, meaning he will be free in several months.

Police detained dozens of Shihab’s supporters who tried to stage a rally in front of the court on Thursday to demand that he be released. More than 2,300 police and soldiers were deployed in and around the building, which was protected by razor wire and four water canons.

Shihab, 55, was the leader and grand imam of the now-defunct Islam Defenders Front, widely known by the Indonesian acronym FPI, which was once on the political fringes. It has a long record of vandalizing nightspots, hurling stones at Western embassies and attacking rival religious groups, and wants Islamic Shariah law to apply to Indonesia’s 230 million Muslims.

Shihab’s presence at several mass gatherings in his honor attracted large crowds, with attendees ignoring physical distancing rules and many failing to wear face masks.

Five other FPI members were also sentenced to eight months in jail on similar charges.

Prosecutors had sought a 34-month prison...