Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang – Prosecutors have fouled up the indictment of Alexander Aan, the civil servant in Padang, West Sumatra, accused of professing atheism on Facebook, his lawyers say.

Alexander was charged with blasphemy and atheism by prosecutors at the Muaro Sijunjung District Court in West Sumatra on Monday. The employee of the Regional Planning Board in Dharmasraya regency was "caught" by local residents, who handed him over to the police on Jan. 18.

Roni Saputra and Dedi Alfaresi, the lawyers from the Padang office of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) who are representing Alexander, said in their defense statement that the charges against Alexander were not filed in accordance with the correct laws.

Alexander should have been charged under a joint regulation promulgated by the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Attorney General's Office and the Home Ministry, Roni said. The indictment also did not mention when and where the defendant allegedly attempted to convert Muslims into apostasy, Roni added.

In the first session of Alexander's trial on Monday, prosecutors charged him under the Law on Information and Electronic Transactions for posting blasphemous material to the Internet, a charge that might result in a six-year prison sentence if he is convicted.

However, according to Roni, Alexander only reposted images and text from the "Minang Atheist" Facebook group on his own account.

Ronny said that that comic was first circulated in a forum called "Faith Freedom Indonesia 2008" and was still available on the Internet, while a second inflammatory comic that Alexander allegedly posted was aired by Metro TV as part of a story on Jan. 20, 2010.

Islam does not allow drawings or visual representations of the Prophet Muhammad.

According to Roni, the defendant was aware of his alleged offenses and had willingly expressed his apologies to all Muslims, members of his family and the Dharmasraya regency administration.

Alexander was merely one of the 2,602 members of "Minang Atheist", Roni said, claiming that the Facebook group was founded by 70-year-old Jusfiq Hadjar, an Indonesian-born resident of Leiden, the Netherlands, according to the attorney. "The defendant has never met or spoken directly to Jusfiq," Roni said.