Indonesia: Police detain man for alleged blasphemy after Facebook post

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Batam Police chief Sr. Comr. Helmi Santika on Sunday called the arrest a “preemptive strike” before anything ugly would happen to SP.

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Post
By TJP | December 18, 2016

Batam Police have arrested a 30-year old man on blasphemy charges over a Facebook post.

The detainee, identified only as SP, reportedly published a comment to a Facebook Group called Wajah Batam (Image of Batam) about Indonesia’s loss to Thailand in the ASEAN Football Championship (AFF) on Saturday, relating the loss with one particular religious practice. The Facebook Group has some 200,000 members, some of whom apparently took offense with the statement and found SP’s home address. Some people abducted him from his home and brought him to the nearest police station in Batu Aji. Police later send him to the Batam Police office.

Batam Police chief Sr. Comr. Helmi Santika on Sunday called the arrest a “preemptive strike” before anything ugly would happen to SP.

“Perhaps because of his over-the-top love for Indonesia’s football team, he posted a status to the Facebook Group Wajah Batam we considered insulting Islam. To prevent anything undesirable from happening, we arrested him,” Helmi said.

After questioning SP, police named him a suspect for allegedly violating Article 28 of the Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law on spreading messages containing hatred against a particular religion, ethnicity or race.

“We call on the public to stop spreading messages with sectarian hatred in them,” Helmi said. (evi)



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