Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Earlier than anticipated and just over a year after being jailed, a controversial Indonesian Islamic prea...
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| Image: Reuters |
For breaking Indonesia's quarantine law and disseminating false information during the pandemic, a hardline cleric who served as the organization's spiritual leader and the now-illegal Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) was given a four-year prison sentence in June of last year.
When the COVID-19 epidemic was at its worst, Rizieq held and attended several large gatherings, including his daughter's wedding. He was found guilty of violating coronavirus limits.
Rizieq has been imprisoned since December 2020, making him eligible for release, according to a written statement on Wednesday from Rika Aprianti, a representative of the nation's prisons administration.
He had completed the necessary "administrative and substantive conditions to obtain remission," she stated, which was the basis for his release.
In the biggest Muslim-majority country in the world, Rizieq has been a divisive political figure.
The fiery preacher led massive demonstrations in 2016 to overthrow Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Chr
istian who served as the governor of Jakarta. This sparked concerns about the Islamization of Indonesia's generally largely secular and multicultural polity.
istian who served as the governor of Jakarta. This sparked concerns about the Islamization of Indonesia's generally largely secular and multicultural polity.
Rizieq moved to Saudi Arabia in 2017 after being accused of pornography and disrespecting the government's ideology. There, he established a self-imposed exile. When he returned to Indonesia in 2020, the allegations against him were allegedly dismissed due to political motivation.
Although the government announced that Rizieq's organisation, the FPI, threatened the nation's ideology in 2020, some Islamic conservatives still find favour with him.
