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Jakarta’s Christian Governor Ahok Imprisoned for Blaspheming Quran is Freed

Nearly two years after he was imprisoned for blaspheming Islam, former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama – better known as “Ahok – walked free.
In May 2017, Ahok was jailed after a Jakarta court found him guilty of blasphemy against Islam. He was sentenced to two years’ jail but was released early after remission, totaling 3½ months, for good behavior. He walked free from the high-security Mako Brimob detention facility in Depok, West Java, early Thursday morning.
“Basuki Tjahaja Purnama got out of the around 7.30am,” his secretary Ima Mahdiah said in a message to journalists. She added that he was picked up by his son Nicholas Sean and representatives of the “BTP team” – a group of close supporters who manage his social media accounts, among others.
Shortly after his father’s release, Nicholas Sean posted on Instagram a photo of them together, saying: “He’s back. My dad’s a free man! Thank you everyone for the support.”
Ahok, who in a recent letter from prison asked his supporters to refer to him by his initials “BTP” rather than his Chinese nickname – was Jakarta’s first Christian and ethnic Chinese governor since the 1960s.
Ahok was charged with blasphemy in September 2016 after accusing his political opponents of using Qur’anic verses to stop Muslims from voting for him in his bid for re-election as Jakarta’s governor. Muslim hardliners incited the people against him, mostly through social media, leading to a series of massive protests that called for his arrest.
One day after Ahok lost the election to Anies Baswedan in what local media referred to as the “the dirtiest, most polarizing and most divisive” election in Indonesia, prosecutors downgraded the blasphemy charges against him to a one-year suspended jail sentence, but on 9 May the court ruled against this and sent him to prison for two years.
The jailing of the former governor was widely condemned by rights groups, with the United Nations calling on the Indonesian government to repeal the country’s blasphemy laws which they said undermined religious freedom in the Muslim-majority nation.
“We urge the government to overturn Mr Purnama’s sentence on appeal or to extend to him whatever form of clemency may be available under Indonesian law so that he may be released from prison immediately”.
Still, in a recent letter posted on his official Instagram account, Ahok said he would serve his time all over again.
“If we could go back in time and someone asked which would you choose I would say I choose to be imprisoned at Mako to study for two years, so that I could maintain self-discipline for the rest of my life,” he wrote, “If I were re-elected, I would have become more arrogant, rough, and I would have hurt people.”
Following his release, reports speculate Ahok plans to become a consultant to local governments, helping them to navigate the country’s electronic budgeting system, and wed his girlfriend, a 21-year-old policewoman named Puput Nastiti Devi.
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Pastor calls for end to gun violence after second son is shot dead

Christiana Ford, a New Orleans pastor and founder of the Silence The Violence Foundation, is calling for an end to gun violence in her community just days after losing a second son to gun violence just outside her home and steps away from her church.
Ford lost her 39-year-old son Lamar Ford in a shooting earlier this month.
Lamar Ford was fatally shot in the head on Aug. 5, 4WWL reported. Police say the shooting happened about 11:30 a.m. on the 1300 block of Elysian Fields Avenue.
The location of the deadly shooting was near the House of Faith Non-Denominational Ministries, a congregation led by his mother.
Lamar Ford had served time in prison for manslaughter, according to nola.com, but was released two years ago. According to his mother, he was turning his life around and helping with outreach programs at her church.
In addition to his mother, Lamar Ford left behind a 9-year-old son and other siblings.
“This man got out of the car and stood over him and shot him two times in the head,” Christiana Ford told 4WWL. “It’s not right; it’s not right. It’s nothing like losing a child.”
The grieving pastor, who previously lost another son to gun violence in Texas, spoke out against gun violence in New Orleans amid a sharp increase in homicides in the city.
Data from the Metropolitan Crime Commission found that since New Year’s Day, 180 murders have been reported, a 42% increase compared to the same period last year.
“To see our kids getting killed daily on the streets. It’s multiplying. It’s crippling. It’s out of control. We need help here in New Orleans,” Ford said.
“Every day, all day, somebody is being killed. That tells me it’s easy to kill and it’s easy to get away with it. … It’s my child now. Whose child is it going to be next?”
“We must come together and let these criminals know they’re not taking over the streets.”
At his trial in 2017, prosecutors said Lamar Ford shot a man named Tyrone Daniels in a vacant alleyway in a dispute over a $40 drug debt on April 22, 2013, according to nola.com.
Prosecutors alleged that Lamar Ford lured Daniels into the alleyway by claiming his bike was there and then shot him. They cited circumstantial evidence against him.
Lamar Ford’s brother Lynn Ford, who had given Daniels a haircut shortly before he was shot, reportedly told investigators that he thought Lamar Ford had murdered Daniels but recanted his testimony upon taking the stand.
In May 2017, Lamar Ford pleaded guilty to manslaughter two days after his trial started, with Daniels’ mother accepting the deal made with prosecutors but insisting he was a murderer.
“I know you killed my son, but I’m going to take it,” Shirley Daniels said, as reported by nola.com at the time. “I can’t do it no more.”
Sources:Christian Post
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കുവൈറ്റിൽ ഫാമിലി വിസയും സന്ദർശക വിസയും താൽക്കാലികമായി നിർത്തി

കുവൈറ്റ് സിറ്റി: രാജ്യത്ത് വിദേശികൾക്ക് കുടുംബ വിസയും സന്ദർശക വിസയും നൽകുന്നത് താൽകാലികമായി നിർത്തിവയ്ക്കുവാൻ നിർദ്ദേശം നൽകി റെസിഡൻസി അഫയേഴ്സ് ഡിപ്പാർട്ട്മെൻറ്.
ആഭ്യന്തര മന്ത്രാലയത്തിലെ മുതിർന്ന ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥരുടെ നിർദേശ പ്രകാരമാണ് പുതിയ തീരുമാനമെടുത്തതെന്ന് പ്രാദേശിക ദിനപത്രമായ അൽ അൻബ റിപ്പോർട്ട് ചെയ്തു. ഡോക്ടർമാർ തുടങ്ങിയ ആവശ്യ മേഖലയിലെ ചില വിഭാഗങ്ങളെയും എയർപോർട്ടിൽ നിന്നും അനുവദിക്കുന്ന എൻട്രി വിസകൾക്കും പുതിയ തീരുമാനത്തിൽ നിന്നും ഇളവ് നൽകിയിട്ടുണ്ട്.
Sources:azchavattomonline
world news
Prosecutors Seek Justice for Christian YouTuber Attacked in Prison

Indonesia – On August 11, state prosecutors held a hearing in South Jakarta where they demanded a one-year extension of a jailed policeman’s sentence.
The policeman, Napoleon Bonaparte, was convicted of bribery in March of last year. In August of that year, the former Inspector General reportedly broke into a fellow inmate’s cell and spread feces all over his body and face.
The victim of this attack is Muhammed Kace, a Muslim-turned-Christian YouTuber who was sentenced to 10 years on charges of blasphemy for his videos that offended Islam. He was detained in the same prison as Bonaparte who was enraged by the content of his videos.
“Anyone can insult me, but not against my Allah, the Quran, the Prophet and my Islamic faith,” Bonaparte said.
News of the policeman’s attack spread and upset Prosecutor Andi Jaya Aryandi who stated that the violence committed in this attack must be punished. Similarly, Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian researcher at Human Rights Watch, said ‘hate crime’ deserves heavy punishment.
According to UCA News, it is common for those convicted of blasphemy to be tortured in prison. While it is not unusual for Christians to fall victim to Indonesia’s draconian blasphemy laws, the inconsistent standard embedded in Indonesia’s legal system is self-evident. Just last August, a Christian-turned-Muslim cleric was arrested for insulting Christianity and was sentenced to merely five months in prison – a fraction of Kace’s sentence.
Sources:persecution
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