KUALA LUMPUR: An Indonesian prosecution has called on an East Java court to deliver a four-year jail sentence for a local Shiite leader on blasphemy charges, the Jakarta Globe reported. The indictment says that Tajul Muluk had told his followers that the Qur'an, Islam's holiest book, was not the original text. “This morning [Wednesday] prosecutors read their demand at Sampang District Court; they asked for four years under the charges of Article 156, Paragraph A of the Criminal Code," Akhol Firdaus, spokesman for the Center for Marginalized Community Studies (CMARS), which is monitoring the trial, told the Jakarta Globe. Under Indonesian law cited by Firdaus, the court can give a sentence of up to five years in jail for the charges. Muluk from Sampang, a district in East Java's island of Madura, has been in custody since April after an investigation by East Java Police charged him with blasphemy and committing “offensive action." The Jakarta Globe report said human rights activists condemned the arrest, saying the prosecution has failed to act on a mob that attacked and burned the houses of some 300 followers of the sheikh's community in December. Muluk's defense team had requested the trial be moved to the capital, Jakarta, but police denied the request, despite calls from rights organizations and advocacy groups. According to Firdaus in arguing for the case to be suspended, Muluk has received intimidation and threats during his detention, mostly by fellow inmates. “They know who he is and they often gave him verbal threats that they were going to kill him; they also throw things at him," he said.
