June 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
An Indonesian court has sentenced a comedian to seven months in prison for “blasphemy” for a joke about the name of Muhammad, the name of the Prophet Muhammad, during a show in the city of Bandar Lampung.
The spokesperson for the Lampung Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, Ricky Ramadhan, has confirmed that the comedian, identified as Aulia Rajman, has been sentenced to “seven months in prison” for violating article 156 of the Penal Code, as reported by the network. Indonesian television Kompas.
The sentence is thus somewhat lighter than that requested by the Prosecutor’s Office, which had demanded that he be sentenced to eight months in prison. Thus, the court has taken into account that the comedian cooperated during the investigation and trial and admitted his guilt.
The case was opened after the comedian joked about the name Muhamad and claimed that it has lost its positive connotations due to the large number of Indonesians with this name who are in prison. “Let’s check the prisons. How many Muhammads are there? It’s like this name doesn’t matter anymore, they’re all in jail,” he said.
Muhamad is one of the most common names in the country, with a Muslim majority. The charges for which he was tried included sentences of up to five years in prison, given that the law prohibits making comments that could be considered insulting to any of the six official religions in Indonesia.
The conviction comes nearly two years after six people were arrested for blasphemy for a promotion at a restaurant chain offering free alcohol to anyone named Muhamad.
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