Indonesia arrests cleric for holding mass rallies in violation of virus restrictions
Indonesian authorities detain widely popular Muslim cleric Habib Rizieq for holding several mass rallies since his return from Saudi Arabia last month in violation of restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Police arrested Rizieq on Saturday and he will be held in custody for 20 days, said police spokesman Argo Yuwono. He said the charges Razieq is facing could lead to five years in prison.
Argo said there was a risk that Rizieq could flee, destroy evidence or breach the restrictions again.
The politically influential cleric went into self-exile in April 2017, following two lawsuits against him.
Indonesia later dropped charges and Rizieq returned from the kingdom last month.
Since his return, he has held several mass rallies in the capital Jakarta, despite rising infections and deaths.
When he landed in Jakarta on November 10, tens of thousands of people flocked to the airport to celebrate his return, while ignoring social distancing and other coronavirus protocols.
He has called for a "moral revolution" since his return and has met some politicians and opposition figures.
“The law needs to be upheld,” chief security minister Mahfud MD told Reuters. “Prominent people need to face the legal consequences if they break the law whatever their role or the support they have from the masses.”
According to a health ministry official, some 95 people who gathered at the airport had subsequently tested positive for coronavirus.
The country’s daily death toll hit a high of 175 on Friday. It has recorded more than 611,000 infections and 18,650 deaths since the start of the outbreak.
Razieq’s arrest came one week after six of his supporters were killed in a gunbattle with police, on Monday.
The cleric’s lawyer, Aziz Yanuar, said earlier that his team would file a motion to seek Rizieq’s release.
Before he left Indonesia, he led a large movement against Jakarta’s former Christian governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama known as Ahok who was accused of insulting Islamic sanctities.
In May 2017, Ahok was sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country.
The rallies, led by Razieq back then, were the biggest since the fall of Indonesia’s former ruler Suharto in 1998.
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