The National Movement to Safeguard the Indonesian Ulema Council’s Fatwa (GNPF-MUI) claims that they now know the identity of the people behind the “engineering” of an adulterous sex scandal between Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab and a woman named Firza Husein.
In a press conference on Tuesday evening, the organization, which is a recently founded umbrella group for hardline Islamic groups who demanded that former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama be jailed for blasphemy against Islam, allege that two Indonesian bloggers, Denny Siregar and Philips Joeng, fabricated the sex scandal in order to criminalize Rizieq.
“We have 700 lawyers who are ready to take the constitutional route in accordance to the existing laws,” GNPF-MUI advocacy coordinator Nasrullah Nasution told Tempo.
According to GNPF-MUI, Philips Joeng was the first person to share a fake video containing an audio recording between Firza and another woman, detailing her affair with Rizieq. Denny Siregar is also on their radar as he previously claimed that he has 15 “episodes” worth of proof of sexting between Firza and Rizieq.
In addition, they are also blaming news website gerilyapolitik.com for being one of the first sites to make the sex scandal viral online.
Nasrullah said that they are gathering evidence to prove their allegations, after which time they will report the all of the accused to the police.
Firza Husein has been named a criminal suspect in the pornography case. The other person of interest in the case, FPI leader Rizieq, has, as we all know, fled the country to Saudi Arabia to avoid questioning by police. Through his lawyer, he said that his fleeing the country is a symbol of opposition to the supposed criminalization of ulemas in Indonesia, and that he won’t return while Jokowi is still president.
