Nine months after his conviction of blasphemy, former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Punama has officially challenged the verdict through a case review petition to the Supreme Court, according to The Jakarta Post Online on Monday.
Preliminary hearing of the petition was held briefly at the North Jakarta District Court on Monday. The Supreme Court will later decide whether the grant the case a review.
After Monday’s hearing, Ahok’s lawyer and sister, Fifi Letya Indra told reporters that she believed the North Jakarta District Court had made a mistake in declaring Ahok guilty of blasphemy.
She said the guilty verdict against Buni Yani, a communication lecture found guilty of tampering with video footage of a speech given by Ahok that was used as evidence for the blasphemy allegation against Ahok was the basis for the case review petition.
She added that the defense team had other legal arguments to support their petition.
Ahok was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison on May 9 last year. He did not appeal his conviction.
Buni Yani, meanwhile, was sentenced to 18 months for breaching Indonesia’s Cyber law on November 14m 2017 by the Bandung District Court.
But the prosecutor said Ahok’s case and Buni’s case were not related and Buni’s evidence was not used in Ahok’s case.
