Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption The former governor of Jakarta is a Christian in Muslim-majority Indonesia The former governor of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, who was jailed for blasphemy in 2017, has been released early.Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok, left the jail outside Jakarta at 07:30 local time (00:30GMT), his staff confirmed, and was met by his son.Mr Purnama, a Christian, was Jakarta's first non-Muslim governor in 50 years.
He was found guilty after referring to a Koran verse in a campaign speech, angering hard-line Islamic groups.The blasphemy accusations and his subsequent two-year jail sentence were seen as a test of religious tolerance in the country.He has been released after 20 months for good behaviour.Mr Purnama was accused of blasphemy over comments he made during a pre-election speech in September 2016.He implied that Islamic leaders were trying to trick voters by using a verse in the Koran to argue that Muslims should not vote for a non-Muslim leader.An edited video of his remarks was widely shared online.
It sparked outrage among religious hard-liners who staged regular large rallies calling for him to face trial.Throughout the trial, Mr Purnama denied wrongdoing, but did apologise for his comments.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption Ahok lost the 2017 election to Anies Rasyid Baswedan During his term as Jakarta governor from 2014 to 2017, he was known as a straight-talking technocrat.
His policies included the setting of minimum wages, calling for free school education and healthcare, reducing traffic congestion and tackling corruption among government officials.
These policies, along with his strong anti-corruption stance, made him very popular in Indonesia.
But in May 2017 he lost the governorship to conservative Muslim candidate Anies Rasyid Baswedan.His subsequent imprisonment deeply divided the nation."This ruling is sending a clear message to the minorities that they can't play around with the majority or this is what will happen to you," Bivitri Susanti, one of the founders of the Centre of Study for Law and Policy, told the TheIndianSubcontinent at the time.Jakarta is a melting pot of the thousands of ethnic groups.Despite being a majority Muslim country, Indonesia has a pluralist and multi-faith constitution that recognises six official religions.