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Firebrand Indonesian Cleric Gets Four Years in Jail for Lying About COVID Infection

Riquiez Shihab told supporters he was healthy—in a YouTube video filmed from a hospital where he was being treated for COVID-19.

A hardline Islamist cleric has been handed a four-year jail term in Indonesia for spreading false information after lying about his own infection with COVID-19. Rizieq Shihab, leader of the banned Islamic Defender’s Front, assured his followers he was healthy in a YouTube video recorded in a hospital where he was in fact being treated for the virus. Rizieq had already been given an eight-month jail term for ignoring coronavirus restrictions at a series of rallies and at his daughter’s wedding—which was attended by an estimated 10,000 people. Al Jazeera said that prosecutors argued that Rizieq’s false statement had “put the community at risk.” His supporters, thousands of whom clashed with police outside the court in Jakarta, said that the trial was an attempt to silence him.