Publication on the issuance of SP3 necessary: Habib Rizieq

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Habib Rizieq Shihab assessed publication should be done following the issuance of investigation termination warrant (SP3) of alleged steamy conversation case. Moreover, the case drew attention of the public for the past year.

"Habib Rizieq made a video statement on the issuance of SP3 so the people would know that he was clean, he did not do accused thing," Habib Rizieq's lawyer Sugito Atmo Pawiro said when contacted by Republika.co.id on Monday.

Sugito explained the police investigators did not have any obligation to made the announcement other than to the suspect. The police handed over the warrant ahead of Eid al-Fitr. However, Sugito did not remember the issuance date of SP3.

Habib Rizieq Shihab says he has received original copy of the investigation termination warrant (SP3) on slander chat case on Thursday (June 14).

According to Sugito, Habib Rizieq received the warrant on Thursday (June 14) night from his lawyer. The video statement was made on the next day in Saudi Arabia.

Sugito claimed to have ask twice for the issuance of SP3 on the case that drag Habib Rizieq and Firza Husein as suspects. Therefore, he appreciated the police for issuing investigation termination warrant as ruled in the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP).

Earlier, Head of National Police Public Relations Muhammad Iqbal confirmed the issuance of investigation termination warrant on the case of alleged pornographic chat allegedly exchanged between the Islamic Defenders Front grand imam with Firza Hasan. He explained the investigation of the case was terminated because the video uploader has not been found.

"The investigators stop the case investigation as requested by the suspect's lawyer," Iqbal told the reporters on Sunday (June 17).

Habib Rizieq then made a video statement posted on a Youtube channel, Front TV, regarding the issuance of SP3 of alleged steamy conversation case, on June 14. The Islamic Defenders Front leader said he has received original copy of the warrant.

"Alhamdulillah (thank God), today we receive original copy of SP3 on slander chat from our lawyer, Mr. Sugito Atmo who get it directly from investigator," Habib Rizieq said.

In this case, Habib Rizieq was threatened by Article 4 verse 1 jo Article 29 and/or Article 6 jo Article 32 and /or Article 9 jo Article 34 of Law No. 44 in 2008 on Pornography. He was threatened by five years of imprisonment.

Habib Rizieq has been ensnared with seven cases after leading a series of Action to Defend Islam (Aksi Bela Islam) in 2016. Legal observers from the Police Science College (PTIK), Umar Husein, worried the alleged pornographic case that strangled Habib Rizieq Shihab was only a trade-off with former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama imprisonment over blasphemy case. He did not accuse that, but he got the impression from the limited information given to the society.

"I'm worried it was a trade-off. It means if Ahok lost and jailed then Habib Rizieq' faction must also be hit," he said to Republika.co.id, on June 7, 2017.

Alleged defamation to Pancasila was the first case. It was reported by Sukmawati Soekarnoputri on October 2016. However, the police have dropped the case on May 2018 over the lack of evidence.