Jakarta – The Tangerang District Court in Banten sentenced on Monday Abraham Ben Moses, also known as Saifuddin Ibrahim, 52, to four years in prison for religious defamation.
The court also ordered that Abraham, who claimed to be a Christian cleric, pay a Rp 50 million (US$3,565) fine, or else spend an additional one month in prison.
"We sentenced the defendant to four years in prison and ordered him to remain in custody," presiding judge Muhammad Damis said as reported by tempo.co.
Damis said Abraham was convicted under Electronic and Information Transactions Law No. 11/2008 as he intentionally spread information intended to incite hatred against an individual, group and society based on religion.
The verdict was lighter than the prosecutors' demand of five years in prison.
Abraham's legal team decided to file for an appeal. "The sentence is too heavy for the defendant," one of Abraham's lawyers, Maxie Ellia, said on Monday.
Abraham was known for recording his conversations with an online taxi driver identified only as Supri.
In a video he uploaded to his Facebook account, Abraham quoted a Quran verse about marriage and tried to convince the driver to convert to Christianity.
The police arrested Abraham and confiscated evidence in the form of a white iPhone 6 Plus at his house in Buaran Indah, Tangerang, Banten, on Dec. 5, 2017. (ami)