ICC Note:
Indonesia’s police are preparing for an interrogation of a hardline Muslim cleric who is being questioned regarding hate speech against Christians. Habib Rizieq Shihab is a leader of the Islamic Defender’s Front (FPI) and one of the leaders in the charge to imprison the Christian governor of Jakarta known as Ahok. Rizieq has since made several speeches mocking Christianity. The FPI is a controversial group that many attribute the rising intolerance against Christians and religious minorities to. If he is tried for hate speech, it will be “win” for Christians, who are feeling increasingly marginalized and threatened in Indonesia by groups such as the FPI.
1/22/2017 Indonesia (The Jakarta Globe) – Police will beef up security at their Jakarta headquarters on Monday (23/01) when firebrand Muslim cleric and Islamic Defenders Front leader Habib Rizieq Shihab is scheduled to be interrogated as a witness in a hate speech probe.
The interrogation is expected to draw many Muslim hardliners to rally at the police headquarters in South Jakarta.
Police said they do not know how many FPI members and sympathizers will come to the protest on Monday, but said they will be more than ready to face them.
“They can’t all enter our headquarters. We will provide security based on our standard operating procedures,” Jakarta Police spokesman Chief Comr. Raden Yuwono said on Saturday.
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