Jakarta Governor Ahok's trial could be 'magnet' for opponents, Indonesian police say
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Measures are being taken to secure the trial of Jakarta's Governor, which is set to begin next week, the Indonesian police chief says.
Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is better known as Ahok, will face trial for blasphemy over comments he made about the Koran while he was campaigning for a gubernatorial election which is due in February next year.
The first hearing will be held on Tuesday next week when the indictment will be read to the court and a panel of five judges.
If found guilty the Christian and ethnic Chinese Governor faces a maximum five years jail.
"The potential risk is quite high and this week the police have started to set up steps needed to secure the trial," Indonesian Police Chief Tito Karnavian told a parliamentary hearing, while stressing the trial could be a "magnet" for opponents of the Governor.
Islamic group to target trial
One of the hardline Muslim groups behind a string of protests against Ahok, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), has called on its followers to attend the trial.
"After action once a month, our next fight is once a week attending the trial of Ahok," FPI spokesman Munarman, who goes by one name, said in a Facebook post.
"We will see who can fight once a week, how many people would come to the court, is it going to be 20,100 people, or 1,000 people and so on."
The trial will be overseen by five judges and 13 prosecutors.
Police have previously said there will be 30 witnesses and 11 experts who will give evidence, while more than 50 pieces of evidence will be presented to the court.
The Governor is accused of claiming that Muslims were being lied to by verse 51 of the Koran which states that Muslims should not vote for non-Muslims. Ahok has apologised for the comments but claimed the allegations against him are politically motivated.
Last week, hundreds of thousands of Muslims turned out for a second mass rally against the Governor demanding his immediate jailing.
In a surprise move, President Joko Widodo arrived at the rally site to pray with the crowd and thank them for the peaceful demonstration.
A similar rally a month before on November 4 turned violent with police later revealing Islamic State sympathisers had infiltrated the crowd.
Last week eight Indonesians, including the daughter of former president Sukarno, who is also the sister of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, were detained as treason suspects with police believing they were wanting to incite the crowd to occupy the Parliament building.
Topics: islam, religion-and-beliefs, government-and-politics, world-politics, indonesia
