Prosecutor Presents Whistleblower At Bahar Smith's Trial: What I Know, HRS Imprisoned For Violating PPKM

Witness Tubagus Nur Alam at the Bandung District Court, West Java (ANTARA/Bagus Ahmad Rizaldi)

JAKARTA - The prosecutor presented a witness who was a reporter in the trial of the case of spreading false news or hoaxes with the defendant Bahar Smith at the Bandung District Court, West Java. The witness was named Tubagus Nur Alam. It was he who reported Bahar Smith to the West Java Regional Police regarding the alleged hoax that Bahar had committed. The witness saw a lecture that was allegedly a hoax through a video on YouTube. "When many people can see there is interaction from the audience to the stage?" said the West Java Attorney General's Office, Suharja, Tuesday, May 10, quoted from Antara. "He was cheering, what I saw from YouTube where Habib Bahar was giving a lecture and saying what I said earlier, the death of six laskars and the matter of the Prophet's Birthday," said Tubagus.

Tubagus assessed that Bahar's statement that Rizieq Shihab was imprisoned and six members of the Islamic Defenders Front organization were killed because of the Prophet's Birthday, was a lie.

"What I know is that HRS (Rizieq Shihab) was imprisoned for the PPKM violation. The six bodyguards left because they were shot by the police, which I know from the media," said Tubagus. After watching YouTube, Tubagus then reported it to the Polda Metro Jaya. However, he admitted that he was being questioned by investigators at the West Java Regional Police. The witness said that the video was seen on the YouTube account of Tatang Rustandi (one of the defendants). The video was uploaded on December 11, while the witness watched it five days later, on December 16, 2021.

The witness admitted that he watched the video to the end. From the video, the witness learned that Bahar's lecture in the video was carried out in the Bandung area. The Prosecutor charged Bahar with spreading hoaxes regarding the reason for Rizieq Shihab's imprisonment for holding the prophet's birthday and six members of the Islamic Defenders Front died due to torture. The prosecutor stated that Bahar Smith's actions were it violates Article 14 paragraph (1) and paragraph (2) and Article 15 of Law Number 1 of 1946 concerning Criminal Law Regulations and/or Article 28 paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 45A paragraph 2 of Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) number 1E of the Criminal Code.