Rizieq Shihab was convicted of multiple violations including her daughter’s wedding. Thousands of people attended the wedding.

The Indonesian court has imprisoned the hardline religious leader Rizieq Shihab for eight months and fined him 20 million rupiah (approximately US$1,400) for holding sermons and other gatherings. Cause his thousands of followers to violate the country’s coronavirus rules. The imposed exile.

Indonesia was sentenced to a few months in prison banned After a shootout from Rizieq’s Defenders of Islam Front (FPI), the police shot and killed his followers.

The Eastern Jakarta Court ruled on Thursday that Rizieq urged supporters to participate in sermons to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad and the wedding of his daughter, which violated Indonesia’s health quarantine law. All of these have attracted thousands of people in countries that have experienced the worst COVID-19 outbreak in Southeast Asia.

Judge Suparman Nyompa said at the hearing: “The defendant was found guilty of violating health regulations.” Rizieq was also fined for activities held in an Islamic boarding school in West Java.

The live broadcast of the on-site hearing showed that Rizieq was wearing a white shirt, headscarf and mask, holding a rosary.

Since he was detained December’s verdict The court said that taking into account the time he has already served, his sentence will be reduced to three months.

Five other senior FPI members were each sentenced to eight months in prison for organizing a mass gathering.

Before the verdict, about 3,000 police officers were sent to guard the court, but his supporters did not protest on a large scale. Local media said that nearly 20 people were briefly detained.

Rizieq returned to Indonesia in November after spending three years in Saudi Arabia, when he fled there while facing pornographic accusations and insulting national ideology. Both charges were subsequently dropped.

Although the rules restricted the size of the party, thousands of followers crowded the airport to celebrate his return, and then participated in mass events in the days that followed.

His legal team claimed that these cases were politically motivated and part of an effort to silence the Muslim leader, who has a large number of voice supporters.

Shihab has served prison sentences in the past, including in prison for an assault by FPI members at an inter-religious rally in 2008. He denied the latest allegations and said he can appeal.

He was arrested shortly after Jakarta police shot and killed six FPI followers in a road shootout The authorities described it as an act of self-defense-the group raised objections.

In recent years, FPI has gained political influence in Indonesia and is one of several religious hardline organizations that have been staged. The 2016 rally overthrew the then Christian governor of Jakarta on charges of blasphemy. The large-scale protests against the governor have raised concerns within the administration of President Joko Widodo about the apparent threat.

Indonesia banned hard-line groups last year.