Indonesia: Leaders of 'deviant' religious group jailed

http://aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/indonesia-leaders-of-deviant-religious-group-jailed/765891

Indonesia: Leaders of 'deviant' religious group jailed
Trio seen as leading religious community whose settlement was attacked last year for 'deviating' from traditional Islam

An Indonesian court has jailed three men for leading a religious community whose settlement on the island of Borneo was attacked last year for “deviating” from traditional Islam.

Judge Muhammad Sirad told a Jakarta court Tuesday that the defendants -- who had been charged with leading the Gerakan Fajar Nusantara movement, better known as Gafatar -- were "proven to have tarnished one of the religions in Indonesia deliberately in public".

Gafatar’s founder Ahmad Moshaddeq and its president Mahful Muis Tumanurung were sentenced to five years in prison, while its vice president Andri Cahya was handed a three-year term.

Moshaddeq had previously spent time in prison on blasphemy charges after declaring himself a “prophet”.

Gafatar is suspected of being the proxy for another organization that has been banned by the Indonesian government.

On Tuesday, the court was told that the defendants commanded their followers to abandon Islamic worship such as prayer, fasting and the Hajj pilgrimage.

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