Riau Islands Police Name 2 Hoax Suspects For Arresting UAS Public Kitchen Assistance For Rempang Residents

The Riau Islands Police have named two suspects in the hate speech case by spreading false news or hoaxes about the arrest and examination of Ustadz Abdul Somad (UAS) for providing assistance in the form of public kitchens for the residents of Rempang.

"We have arrested two people and their status is already a suspect in the case of spreading hoax news about Ustadz Abdul Somad's arrest," said Director of Special Criminal Investigation at the Riau Islands Police Kombes Nasriadi to reporters in Batam as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, September 27.

The two suspects, each with the initials I and BM, both have their addresses in Batam City, Riau Islands. The two suspects spread false news of UAS' arrest on social media Facebook and TikTok when there was a riot among residents of Rempang on 7 and 11 September 2023.

Nasraidi explained that the determination of the two suspects was based on a series of investigations, deepening and case titles.

"We finally agreed that the case was raised to the level of investigation and named the two people as suspects," he said.

The evidence confiscated by investigators from the case included two smartphones, a Facebook account belonging to the suspect BM and a TikTok account belonging to suspect I.

Against the two suspects who are currently detained at the Riau Islands Police Headquarters, investigators imposed Article 45 A paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 28 paragraph (2) of Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions with a maximum imprisonment of six years.

"Then the suspect is also subject to Article 15 of Law Number 1 of 1946 concerning Criminal Law Regulations with a maximum imprisonment of two years," explained Nasriadi.