Well-fed FPI head man Habib Rizieq has plenty of celebrity visitors to keep him company in police lock-up.

Rotund Front Pembela Islam (FPI) leader Habib Rizieq Shihab, arrested on June 4th for the FPI attack on a religious freedom rally in Jakarta on June 1st has kept in the news despite his imprisonment.

Famous Visitors

Habib has received a string of visitors, one of the first being aging actor Anwar Fuadi/Fuady, who came to give his moral support. okezone

Anwar Fuadi.

Other famous or semi-famous visitors have included dangdut singer Camelia Malik, and actresses Yati Octavia and Cut Yanti. Camelia explained her presence: inilah

I came because we’re both Muslims, I want Habib to be freed and Ahmadiyah banned.

Camelia Malik

And Zainuddin MZ and the King of Dangdut music Rhoma Irama have also paid visits to Riziq. Bang Oma said it was regrettable that the government was taking so long to ban Ahmadiyah, while Zainuddin, “Dai Sejuta Umat”, said people had to think in a proportional way about things like the FPI violence at Monas.

Mass FPI Visits

On 9th June about 5000 militants demonstrated in central Jakarta to urge the issuance of the edict to ban the Ahmadiyah group. After they had done demonstrating about 500 of them turned up at Jakarta police headquarters wanting to see their hero Habieb.

Habib Rizieq, with a loudspeaker.

Police ferried the protestors, 20-25 at a time, in mini-buses from Jl Sudirman to the Rutan Narkoba building. After they had all arrived Riziq was allowed to come to the gates, stand on a police car, and, armed with a loudspeaker, address his followers. He told them to keep the peace and keep struggling for the banning of Ahmadiyah. republika inilah

Calm Reflection

Habib Rizieq says he doesn’t mind being locked up as when he is not addressing crowds of people at the front gates or entertaining celebrities inside he has plenty of time for praying. kompas

In here, God be thanked, I can pray and do other things in peace.

Banci

However the peaceful atmosphere of the police lock-up has not tamed Habib’s tongue, or pen. On June 10th he complained in a written statement that the SKB edict was too weak (“banci“) and was proof that inilah

[President] SBY is a coward.

On October 30th 2008 Habib Rizieq Shihab, and colleague Munarman, were both sentenced to 18 months imprisonment over the Monas incident, 6 months less than the prosecution had requested.