FPI Leader Surrenders to Jakarta Police

Jakarta (Antara) - A leader of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Habib Noval, who was absconding for a few days, surrendered to the Jakarta Metropolitan Police on Wednesday, a police officer said. "The investigators are still questioning him. He will most likely be detained," Director of the Detective Unit of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Sen. Coms Heru Pranoto, stated. The police had named Noval as a suspect for his alleged involvement in the violent rally staged by the FPI against Deputy Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama last Friday (October 3). Pranoto noted that Noval's surrender was made possible after investigators approached the suspect's close friends and published his photograph to the public, declaring him a fugitive. A few hundred FPI members staged a violent rally against Purnama, who is set to become the new Jakarta governor, following the resignation of Joko Widodo, who will be sworn in as the Indonesian President on October 20. During the rally, several police personnel were injured after being pelted by stones by the FPI demonstrators. Besides Noval, the police named four juveniles as suspects as well. (*) Reported by Abdul Malik