Who Is Ustaz Maaher Alias Soni Ernata, Who Died At The Detention Center At The Police Headquarters

JAKARTA - Soni Ernata, also known as Ustaz Maaher At Thuwailibi, died at the Police Headquarters Detention Center on Monday, February 8 at 19.00 WIB. Ustaz Maaher died while serving a prison sentence for hate speech. Who is Ustaz Maaher?

Ustaz Maaher is known as a preacher from Medan, North Sumatra. On his arrest warrant, Ustaz Maaher's place of birth was listed: Medan, July 14, 1992.

Besides being active in many da'wah activities, Ustaz Maaher is also known to be active on social media. I'm his personal Twitter, @ustadzmaaher_ has 64 thousand followers.

"Straight line salafy," reads his account.

Ustaz Maaher also has a YouTube channel called USTADZ MAAHER AT-THUWAILIBI OFFICIAL with 150 thousand subscribers. It was on this channel that Ustaz Maaher uploaded his preaching videos.

On social media, Ustaz Maaher often uploads moments of his activities, including a number of videos showing his preaching. Ustaz Maaher is known to be close to other well-known clerics, including Ustaz Abdul Somad.

The closeness of the two was seen when sharing the da'wah stage in commemoration of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday in North Sumatra. Ustaz Maaher is known as a vocal speaker. He often criticizes the government.

In 2017, Ustaz Maaher strongly criticized the government. He said that Indonesia was a Thailand country. He called the government the enemy of Islam. This was revealed by Ustaz Maaher in response to the issuance of the Ormas Law which was used to dissolve the organization Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI).

Ustaz Maaher also said that the Ormas Law is an opportunity for the government to dissolve other Islamic movements. That's why Ustaz Maaher invited Islamic groups to oppose the Mass Organization Law.

Ustaz Maaher was also highlighted when he was reported by Permadi Arya alias Abu Janda. Abu Janda said Ustaz Maaher had spread death threats through social media.

Ustaz Maaher was involved in a feud with celebrity, Nikita Mirzani. Ustaz Maaher called Nikita a prostitute and threatened to surround her house with eight hundred clerical defenders.

At that time Maaher was furious because of Nikita's statement which cornered Habib Rizieq Shihab, the leader and high priest of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). At that time, many netizens criticized Maaher for his harsh words.

Not only Nikita, Ustaz Maaher also had time to say insulting words against Habib Lutfi bin Yahya. Through a tweet on Twitter, August 2020, Ustaz Maaher wrote: Yes, wearing a hijab is more beautiful. I think this Banser huh.

The police highlighted that. The police saw indications of insulting the cleric in his tweets, which is the narrative of a photo upload.

As a result of his insult to Habib Lutfi bin Yahya, Ustaz Maaher was charged with the law. Ustaz Maaher said he learned a lot from this case.

In an interview with Detik, Ustaz Maaher even rejected the narrative that the case was the criminalization of ulama. "It's not criminalized. This is actually a lesson for me, all my friends," said Maaher, quoted on Monday, February 8.

Ustaz Maaher himself said that he had no intention of insulting Habib Lutfi. Ustaz Maaher also rejected the notion that he had personal problems with the charismatic NU cleric.

"So linguistically as if I wanted to say to the Twitter user who insulted me, that if you insulted me, cornered me, I wear a veil even though I wear a turban, meaning you are indirectly insulting Habib Lutfi, the cleric who is also me and you Respect. Habib Lutfi and I both happen to wear sunnah clothes, wear a turban. That's the problem. "

After being declared dead, Ustaz Maaher's body was immediately taken to the Police Hospital, Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, at 20.00 WIB. According to police, Ustaz Maaher died of illness.

A week ago, Ustaz Maaher reportedly returned to the detention center from the Police Hospital for treatment. Ustaz Maaher was detained at the Police Criminal Investigation Detention Center after being arrested on December 4, 2020.

While in detention, Ustadz Maaher complained of illness. He was then taken to the Police Hospital.

Full name

Soni Ernata

Alias name

Ustaz Maaher At Thuwailibi

Place and date of birth

Medan, 14 July 1992

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