Beritasatu, Jakarta – Feisty rocker-cum-musician Ahmad Dhani was freed from Cipinang Prison in East Jakarta on Monday after completing a one-year jail term for hate speech.

Dhani was accompanied by his three sons and second wife Mulan Jameela as they left the prison in a pickup truck.

Dressed in a black shirt printed with a picture of national hero General Soedirman, Dhani and his legislator wife stood in the back of the truck and waved to bystanders all the way to their home in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta. His supporters shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) as the entourage left the jail.

"It's all over," Dhani told reporters before leaving the prison. He declined to comment further, saying a press conference will be held at his home later in the day.

Mulan, who was recently elected as a House of Representatives member representing the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), had expressed excitement on her social media account as she awaited Dhani's last day in prison.

"Let's go home my loving husband. Me and the kids are waiting for you," Mulan wrote on Instagram with a photograph of the couple inside Cipinang Prison.

The South Jakarta District Court sentenced Dhani to 18 months in jail in January for spreading hate speech against supporters of former Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama. The sentence was then reduced to one year on appeal.

Second conviction

In June, the 47-year-old was also found guilty of violating Indonesia's draconian internet law for calling a group of protesters "idiots" in a video that went viral.

The Surabaya District Court in East Java sentenced him to another year in jail but the Supreme Court commuted the sentence to a six-month probation.

The Justice Ministry's penitentiary affairs directorate confirmed Dhani's probation will start later this month.

"His second conviction shall be served from Dec. 30, 2019," Ade Kusmanto, a spokesman for the directorate, said in a statement on Monday.

During the probation until June 29 next year, Dhani will be put under the supervision of Surabaya prosecutors, Ade said.

The Supreme Court verdict says Dhani will not need to go to jail, "unless there is a different court ruling in a later date if the defendant commits a crime before his probation period ends."

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/rocker-ahmad-dhani-released-from-jail-picked-up-by-legislator-wife