Former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has been imprisoned since May 9, when he was found guilty at the conclusion of his highly controversial blasphemy trial.
The judges in that trial sentenced him to two years for insulting Islam, but Ahok will be getting out a little earlier as it looks like he’s likely to receive a 15-day sentence remission from the government for the Christmas holiday.
“Yes (he can receive the remission, but) I will check again to make sure as the regulations are not in front of me, as I recall he can get 15 days for Christmas,” Ahok’s lawyer, I Wayan Sudirta, told Detik today.
Sudirta said Ahok is entitled to the remission because he has been imprisoned for 6 months.
All prisoners in Indonesia are eligible for regular sentence remissions around certain major holidays, including Indonesian Independence Day, as long as they follow all of the prison’s regulations and exhibit good behavior.
By all accounts Ahok has been a model inmate, spending most of his time reading books, working out and answering letters from his supporters.
Sudirta said Ahok was reluctant to comment on the possibility of receiving any sentence remissions.
“Pak Ahok is a strong man, he just serves his sentence and does not comment on things like this, whatever the ruling is he will accept it,” he said, adding that Ahok had been reading books on Christianity as well as other religions recently.
In addition to Christmas, Ahok will also have several other opportunities for remissions and sentence cuts before the end of his imprisonment, meaning he might be free quite a bit before two years is up.
The judges in Ahok’s blasphemy case did not strip him of his political rights with their sentence, leaving open the possibility for Ahok to potentially work as a government official once more after he’s out of prison. The likelihood of that actually happening seems remote, although he continues to do well in political polls.
Earlier this month, Foreign Policy magazine included Ahok in their list of the top 100 global thinkers of 2017 for ‘standing up to Indonesia’s creeping fundamentalism’.
