Indonesia prosecutors seek jail for Muslim sect leader

Jakarta, Indonesia - Indonesian prosecutors on Wednesday recommended an four-year jail sentence for the leader of a Muslim sect charged with blasphemy.

Ahmad Mushaddeq was charged with blasphemy and insulting an official religion after he said he was a Muslim prophet -- a claim he has since retracted.

A key tenet of mainstream Islam is that Mohammad was the final prophet, and will not be followed by any other messengers from God.

Mushaddeq's Al Qiyadah Al Islamiyah sect was proscribed as "deviant" last year by the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), the peak group of religious scholars with semi-legal authority.

"Ahmad Mushaddeq is proven to have created tension and insulted (an official) religion in public... and should be given four years imprisonment," prosecutor Muchammad Muhadjir told a Jakarta court.

Mushaddeq handed himself in to police along with six followers in October.

About 90 percent of Indonesia's population is Muslim. Most practice a moderate form of the religion, which sometimes incorporates Hindu and animist beliefs