Indonesia arrested seven people for making “terror threats” online against Pope Francis during his visit to the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country this week, police said Friday.
The 87-year-old pontiff made Southeast Asia’s biggest economy the first stop of an arduous Asia-Pacific tour, delivering a message of religious unity to counter extremism and intolerance.
The suspects were arrested in cities around the capital Jakarta, and the provinces of West Sumatra and Bangka Belitung, Indonesia’s elite counter-terrorism unit Densus 88 spokesman Aswin Siregar told reporters.
They are accused of posting statements and images online that threatened bomb attacks on the pope’s public meetings in Jakarta.
“Densus 88 has taken legal action against seven individuals… who made threats in the form of propaganda or terror threats via social media in response to the pope’s arrival,” Aswin told reporters.
“There was also a threat to set fire to the locations,” he added.
His …