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The AFP reports that an Indonesian Muslim cleric was arrested on Sunday for violating the Corona virus controls after a series of sermons with tens of thousands of followers.
Rizik Shihab was arrested just days after Jakarta police shot dead six followers of his hardline Islamist group in a highway shooting.
Shihab will be detained for 20 days to prevent him from escaping and destroying evidence, police said.
“Another reason for his detention is that he did not commit the crime again,” National Police spokesman Arko Yuvono said Sunday.
If convicted, he could face up to six years in prison for violating the Corona virus rules.
Shikab was greeted by tens of thousands of followers at Jakarta airport after being deported last month in defiance of the Govt-19 ban on meetings.
Dozens of people attending the meeting tested positive for the corona virus, prompting police to call Shihab several times to investigate.
Indonesia has reported more than 600,000 corona virus infections and more than 18,500 deaths, and authorities have imposed nationwide restrictions to prevent the spread of the disease.
Despite those restrictions, Shihab preached, celebrated the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad of Islam, and married his daughter – all of which were attended by thousands of people.
Shihab, the charismatic leader of the Islamic Defender Front (FBI), fled to Saudi Arabia shortly after being named by police in 2017 as a suspect in a pornographic case and was deported for three years.
Since his return, he has called for a “moral revolution.”
His FBI is notorious for targeting nightclubs and other organizations that are considered “immoral” and has also attacked minority Muslim groups who consider it “different.”
He was one of the key figures behind the 2016 rallies against then-Jakarta Governor Basuki Tajaja Purnama for allegedly insulting the Koran.
He was sentenced to two years in prison for slandering a Christian cow.
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