Jakarta’s Christian governor was interrogated by police on Monday after tens of thousands of angry Muslims took to the streets on Friday to demand that he be jailed for allegedly insulting Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the first Christian in over 50 years to be elected governor of the world’s most populous Muslim nation’s capital, spent nearly nine hours being questioned by authorities after thousands of Muslim demonstrators filled city streets to accuse the governor of committing the criminal offense of blasphemy.

The accusation stems from comments that Purnama, who is commonly known as “Ahok,” made during a trip to the Thousand Islands in September, where he said the Quran is lying to Muslims when it tells them they can’t vote for non-Muslims.

After Purnama’s comment made its rounds on social media, Muslim radicals were quick to accuse the Protestant governor of blasphemy and call for him to pull out of the hotly contested 2017 election.   Continue reading →