Egi Adyatama, Jakarta – Legal and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly denied that the government had demanded the Saudi Arabian government issue a letter banning the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab to return to Indonesia.

Yasonna underlined that he never knew about the request. "Nothing. The point is, [there was] no [request] from us," said the minister at Presidential Palace Complex, Central Jakarta, Monday, November 11.

Yasonna also renounced that the Indonesian government prohibited Rizieq and claimed to be in the dark about several letters on the ban presented by the Muslim cleric in a video posted by FPI's YouTube channel, Front TV.

Through a video displaying a teleconference at FPI headquarter, November 8, Rizieq showed two documents he said as letters that prohibiting him from exiting Saudi Arabia.

Rizieq said the prohibition was due to security reasons as requested by the Indonesian government. He asserted that he never committed either criminal or civil violations. "[The ban] was mere because of security," he said.

Rizieq Shihab was reportedly still living in Mecca, Saudi Arabia since mid-2017 after he was incriminated in a pornography case. He did not come back to Indonesia, albeit the police dropped the case in June 2018.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1271147/yasonna-laoly-clarifies-rizieq-shihabs-ban-to-return-home