Counselors face jail terms for blasphemy

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post/Probolinggo, East Java

Prosecutors demanded on Monday between four and five years' jail for seven counselors at an alternative faith healing clinic in the East Java town of Probolinggo, who they said had committed heresy against Islam by publishing a book.

Chief prosecutor Eko Kuntadi told the Probolinggo District Court the defendants had through their services introduced teachings and practices that contravened the precepts of Islam, including notions of free sex and a belief that recognized Satan as a creature who served God.

"What the defendants have done is heresy and an insult to Islam." Eko told the court.

The prosecutors demanded five years' jail for Ardi Husen; the head of the Cahaya Alam Cancer and Drug Addiction Healing Foundation, and four years for his assistants Syamsuddin, M. Toha, Anshori, Rahmad Hidayat, Kris Haryono and Muhidah, the only woman standing trial.

In their indictment, the prosecutors said Ardi and his aides had circulated about 1,000 copies of a book of guidelines to their patients, mostly drug addicts and cancer patients.

The book was written by Syamsuddin, Toha, Anshori, Rahmad and Kris Haryono, with the approval of Ardi, the indictment said.

Since its inception in 1991, the foundation says it has treated thousands of people suffering from cancer and drug addiction.

Ardi joined the foundation in 1996 and was named its chairman three years ago.

Police began to investigate the alternative healing activities in May after the local Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict calling the foundation's teachings heresy. Ulema had earlier obtained one of the books from a foundation patient.

Hundreds of people raided the foundation's headquarters in Karangpilang shortly after the edict was issued, vandalizing the interior and driving out patients who were waiting to be treated at the clinic.

Police later arrested the healers for causing a disturbance after preventing the crowd from attacking them.

The lawyer for the defendants, Zahir Rusyad, said the sentences were excessive and were being sought after pressure from MUI.

"How could someone be jailed for publishing a book, when the government has never officially banned it," Zahir said.

Groups like MUI were taking on the role of a moral police in trying to punish the counselors but they had no powers to do so under Indonesian law, he said.

He said no patients who testified before the court for the prosecution had witnessed the counselors practice their teachings.

Zahir also questioned the judges' decision to reject an expert testimony on behalf of his clients without a clear reason.

Elsewhere in East Java, the Malang District Court is hearing the case of Muslim imam Muhammad Yusman Roy, who is charged with blasphemy after he introduced an Indonesian translation of the Arabic sholat prayer earlier this year.