Policemen, official testify for soothsayer

Policemen, official testify for soothsayer

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Two policeman and a civil servant testified
yesterday that soothsayer Permadi Satrio Wiwoho did not actually
call Prophet Muhammad a dictator in a seminar as prosecutors have
alleged.

They told the district court in Sleman that Permadi had only
agreed with a participant's comment that the Prophet Muhammad was
an example of a "good dictator."

The court heard testimony from Dwi Tafianto of the Sleman
police precinct, Sugeng Dwi Haryono of the Yogyakarta police
headquarters and from Sunarto, an employee of the Sleman regency
government. All three were present at the seminar.

Permadi is being tried on charges of insulting Islam by
calling the Prophet Muhammad a "dictator" while addressing a
closed seminar at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University last year.

The two policemen had previously told police investigators
that they heard Permadi describe the prophet as a dictator but
they retracted their statements as recorded in the dossiers after
failing to answer specific questions put by the judge and
Permadi's lawyers.

The witnesses then admitted that they had heard the words on a
tape recording played to them while they were being questioned at
the national police headquarters in Jakarta.

During a tense session, one of Permadi's lawyers, H.M. Dault,
warned the witnesses they are liable to prosecution if they were
lying.

All three witnesses testified that there had been no reaction
from the floor when Permadi responded to the participant's
comment that the prophet was authoritarian.

Therefore, Dwi Tafianto said, he had reported to his
commandant that the seminar had proceeded orderly and without
incident.

He acknowledged that Permadi's comment had only become an
issue after he was summoned to the national Police headquarters
in Jakarta as a witness. (02/pan)