Indonesia rattled by jailing of governor

Hundreds of supporters of Jakarta's Christian governor have sung patriotic songs outside the capital's City Hall to protest his imprisonment for blasphemy after a trial that drew concerns over rising religious intolerance.

Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, commonly referred to as Ahok, is appealing his harsher-than-expected two-year jail sentence after being found guilty of insulting the Koran in the Muslim-majority country.

Purnama, the first ethnic Chinese and Christian leader elected as Jakarta's governor, was immediately detained, on the judge's orders, at the end of the trial on Tuesday.

While held in police detention on Jakarta's outskirts, Purnama's supporters dressed in the national colours of red and white to gather at his office in a show of solidarity at the Dutch colonial-style City Hall.

The emotions unleashed by the case have sent shudders through Indonesia - a secular state that has religious freedom and diversity enshrined in its constitution, though 85 per cent of its people are Muslim.

A Hindu spiritual leader from Bali, I Gusti Ngurah Harta, said Purnama's guilty verdict meant minorities could be disadvantaged before the law in the future.

"It means ... they will be increasingly oppressed because judges can't do much in the face of the pressures they face," he said.

Rights groups have condemned the verdict.

They fear Islamist hardliners are in the ascendancy in a country where most Muslims practise a moderate form of Islam and is home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.

Purnama, who is an ally of President Joko Widodo, was put on trial late last year over allegations he insulted the Koran when he said political rivals were deceiving people by using a verse in from the Islamic holy book to say Muslims should not be led by a non-Muslim.

Islamist groups drew hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the street, calling for him to be sacked and jailed, scuppering his chances at re-election.

Though he remains popular for his record of getting things done, Purnama lost April's divisive election to a Muslim rival who will take office in October.