The handling of the case goes on. On Monday (December 14, 2020), the West Java police investigators will coordinate with those from the Jakarta Metropolitan PoliceBandung, W Java (ANTARA) - The West Java Police's General Crimes Directorate affirmed that it would still go ahead with its plan to interrogate Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Habib Rizieq Shihab though he has been detained by the Jakarta police over the case of health protocol breach.
To this end, the West Java police investigators would coordinate with their colleagues at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Director of the West Java Police's General Crimes Directorate Sen.Coms.CH Patoppoi said here Sunday.
"The handling of the case goes on. On Monday (December 14, 2020), the West Java police investigators will coordinate with those from the Jakarta Metropolitan Police," he said, adding that the FPI leader would be questioned as a witness for the Megamendung case.
Besides interrogating Shihab at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police on Monday, the West Java police investigators had also planned to summon Bogor District Head Ade Yasin on December 15, and West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil on December 16, he said.
The Megamendung case is related to the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a mosque construction at the Markas Syariah Agricultural Islamic Boarding School in Megamendung Subdistrict, Bogor District, West Java Province, on November 13, 2020.
On that day, hundreds of people greeted the FPI leader who had arrived in Indonesia along with his family members on November 10, 2020 after having stayed for a self-exile in Saudi Arabia for more than three years.
Meanwhile, Shihab is detained for 20 days starting from December 12 to December 31, 2020 shortly after getting grilled by the Jakarta Metropolitan Police investigators for 11 hours on Saturday over the case of alleged breach of the government's health protocols in several crowds-pulling events, held at his home and FPI headquarters last month.
"In the questioning, conducted from 11.30 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. on Saturday, the police investigators raised 84 questions to the suspect," National Police Spokesman Inspector General Argo Yuwono said on early Sunday.
According to Yuwono, the police investigators also decided to detain the FPI leader as a suspect in the health protocol breach case based on objective and subjective considerations.
Among the points that the investigators had taken into account for deciding the suspect's custody were the length of prison sentence which was potentially more than five years, and efforts to make him unable to destroy evidence, run away, and do similar crimes.
In response to the police's decision to take Habib Rizieq Shihab into custody, several hundred sympathizers of this well-respected ulema in Ciamis District, West Java, flocked to the district's police office to protest his arrest.
Led by local Muslim figures, Shihab's sympathizers demanded for his immediate release. In return, they expressed their readiness to replace him in jail.
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Translator: Bagus AR, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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