Indonesian leader, Rizieq Shihab, turns himself in for violating COVID-19 restrictions

Dressed in a white robe, turban and a face mask, the Indonesian cleric andleader of the Islamic Defenders Front,Rizieq Shihab, turned himself in following accusations of flouting COVID-19 restrictions.

Shihab walked to theJakarta police without any hesitations for questioning of accusations of bypassing all restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus by holding mega rallies with huge crowds. "With God’s permission, I can come to the Jakarta Police for an investigation according to the laws and regulations," he said.

The Jakarta Police has accusedhim of this crime after he hosted a gathering to celebrateProphet Muhammad’s birthday and also celebrated his daughter's wedding — attracting huge crowds in both the events,Jakarta police spokesman Yusri Yunus reported.

These two events are not the only ones in which health regulations were ignored. There have been several other events in Jakarta and West Java where large crowds of his supporters gathered to greet the leader who has recently returned from a three-year exile in Saudi Arabia. He was charged inpornography case and with insulting the official state ideology in 2017 when he had visited Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage to Mecca.

If proven guilty, Shihab can face a jail time of up to six years for consciously violating health regulations andobstructing law enforcement amid a pandemic.

Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan and West Java Gov. Ridwan Kamil are also being questioned in the matter for allowing Shihab to organise these events amid a pandemic.

As of now, Indonesia has reported a tally of more than 600,000 cases of the deadly virus — making it the first affectedcountry in Southeast Asia and second in Asia, after India's tally of nearly 9.8 million cases.