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HRWG deplores Indonesian justice system over Gafatar blasphemy case
Jakarta Post - March 8, 2017
HRWG executive director Muhammad Hafiz said the ruling was unjust as the panel of judges did not take the testimonies delivered by the suspects' lawyers, witnesses and experts into account before delivering the verdict.
"This trend keeps repeating in many cases that implicate religious freedom and minority rights [...] blasphemy itself is a vague term that does not fulfill legal principles in the criminal justice system," Hafiz said in a statement on Wednesday.
"We urge the Judicial Commission and the Supreme Court's supervisory body to address this issue to end injustice by evaluating and imposing sanctions for the panel of judges who were unfair in the rulings," he added.
Hafiz asserted that bringing the case of the Gafatar leaders through the criminal justice system contradicted the government's earlier decision to issue a joint decree to prevent ex-Gafatar members from spreading the movement's doctrine.
Hafiz said the government should have been consistent with its approach, adding that they should not intervene with people's freedom of thought and belief since the 1945 Constitution protects those freedoms.
The East Jakarta District Court has previously sentenced former Gafatar chief Mahful Muis Tumanurung and spiritual leader Ahmad Musadeq aka Abdussalam to five years in prison and spokesperson Andry Cahya to three years in prison under the controversial blasphemy law. (dan)
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