A court in Indonesia has sentenced a cult leader to 2.5 years in prison for blasphemy. The court ruled that the man had offended against Islam by preaching in his underpants and calling on his followers to engage in group sex. He also told his followers that prayer and fasting was not necessary.

The prosecutors had called for a much higher sentence but the judge in Jakarta took it into account that the sect leader did not actively propagate his beliefs but that his followers came to him. The man also publicly distanced himself from a statement in which he claimed to be God.