Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) was questioned as a witness in an alleged case of religious blasphemy at the National Police Headquarters instead of the National Polices Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) for security reasons.

If the questioning was held at the Bareskrim office at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry it would fearfully cause inconvenience as there were many offices there, Chief of Bareskrim Commissioner General Ari Dono Sukmanto said on Monday.

"It was held at the National Police Headquarters for security reasons," he said.

Sukmanto said the police still needed comments from several expert witnesses to handle the alleged case of religious blasphemy.

"As originally planned, the questioning would start at 09.00 a.m. on Monday. (The Jakarta governor) was summoned as a witness," he said.

It is the first time for the police to question Ahok as a witness in the case.

On October 24, Ahok visited the Bareskrim office at his own initiative to coordinate with investigators in connection with the case.

The police has questioned 22 witnesses, including seven expert witnesses. The expert witnesses included ulemas from the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), Quran interpreters, criminal law experts and linguists. 

On November 4, hundreds of thousands of Muslims staged a peaceful rally in a show of support for the edict issued by the MUI against Ahok.

The edict was issued following an alleged case of blasphemy involving certain remarks made by the governor.

At the rally, the demonstrators urged law enforcement agencies to take legal action against Ahok for alleged blasphemous statement concerning the Holy Quran.
 

Source: ANTARA