Government Denies Effort to Discredit Firebrand Cleric Rizieq Shihab Ahead of His Guilty Verdict

The sentence is lighter than the 10 months and a Rp. 50 million fine for the Megamendung gathering, and two years behind bars for the Petamburan rally proposed by prosecutors..

The FPI held the Petamburan rally to welcome Rizieq back from his four-year exile in Saudi Arabia, while the Meganmendug gathering occurred as the cleric was about to visit a religious school funded by FPI.

Also read: Jakarta Metropolitan Police Arrest FPI Chief Rizieq Shihab

Rizieq will also face another court case against him for withholding the results of his Covid-29 tests at the Ummi Hospital in Bogor, West Java, and sneaking out of the institution.

Rizieq and the FPI took a more confrontational stance against the government after his return from Saudi Arabia.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police repaid Rizieq’s defiance by arresting him on December 10 2020, weeks before the government outlawed the FPI for its incompatibility with Indonesia’s Pancasila state ideology.

The authorities also arrested former FPI secretary general Munarman, after a number of FPI members under his watch in Makassar, South Sulawesi pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2015.

(Writers: Fitria Chusna Farisa, Nirmala Maulana Achmad | Editors: Dani Prabowo, Irfan Maullana)

Sources: 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/05/28/13294641/ngabalin-nilai-tak-ada-diskriminasi-dalam-kasus-kerumunan-rizieq-shihab?page=all#page2. 

https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2021/05/28/09311781/rizieq-shihab-divonis-lebih-ringan-hakim-sebut-ada-diskriminasi-hingga?page=all.