Jakarta – Prosecutors at the Semarang District Court are charging Syihabuddin, a defendant in the Temanggung riots case, of provoking people into engaging in last month's riots that damaged several churches in the area.

Prosecutor Sugeng said Thursday that Syihabbudin is an ustadz (cleric) and mubalig (preacher), who persuaded residents to attend a blasphemy trial at the Temanggung District Court.

The Court's agenda that day was to read the verdict on blasphemy defendant Antonius Bawngan. Some of the residents attending the trial claimed the five-year prison sentence was too light and the situation deteriorated into mass rioting.

The prosecutors said that Syihabuddin had gathered the group to attend the trial. Syihabuddin allegedly rode in the front vehicle of a convoy heading to the trial, holding a megaphone, Tempointeraktif.com reported.

They said that Syihabuddin yelled several provocative statements during the trial, such as "Antonius should be sentenced to death because [spilling] his blood is halal [allowed]," and "...kill him, burn Antonius if the court doesn't sentence him to death."

The crowd attempted to wreck havoc at the district court before moving on to the streets and attacking churches.

Syihabbudin said that the charges read by the prosecutors were "90 percent slander and fabrication." He said that the harshest words that he spoke before the trial was "Whoever hides Antonius, I will go against that person."

Syihabuddin added that according to him, the Temanggung riots were fueled by at least two factors: Antonius provoking them and the arrogance of security officers in dealing with the residents who attended the trial.