If the likes of Nathan Lean and Jonathan Freedland get their way, those resisting Islamic supremacism in the West will be forcibly silenced, and face penalties much like that meted out here to Tajul Muluk.
“Convicted Shiite cleric: I am not an infidel,” by Indra Harsaputra for The Jakarta Post, July 13 (thanks to John):
Shiite cleric Tajul Muluk described his two-year prison sentence as a politically engineered verdict aimed at alienating Shia Muslims after he was sentenced by the Sampang District Court, East Java, on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters after presiding judge Purnomo Amin Tjahjo declared him guilty of blasphemy against Islam, Tajul insisted he was a victim of slander and vowed to appeal to higher courts.
“This is about my dignity: As if I am an infidel. I have videotaped evidence that this trial was fabricated for political ends,” the 39-year-old preacher said.
In his verdict, Judge Purnomo said that, “The defendant was proven to promulgate blasphemy against Islam. Therefore Tajul shall remain in prison under a two-year sentence.”
As in previous trial proceedings, riot police guarded the court.
Tajul will stay in prison for another 21 months, having been in detention since April 12, following the anti-Shia riot that rocked the small city on Dec. 29 last year.
Prosecutor Sucipto accused Tajul of telling his followers that the current Koran was not the original version, and the true Koran is still in the hands of Imam Mahdi….