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The wife of Jakarta's former governor has wept while explaining to the press why her husband has decided not appeal against his jail term.
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was jailed for two years for blasphemy earlier this month and originally said he would appeal against the decision in a higher court.
But the Christian and ethnic Chinese Governor, best known as Ahok, has announced through his lawyers he would accept the verdict for the "good of the country".
At a press conference in Jakarta, his wife Veronica Tan cried as she read out a letter her husband wrote in jail.
"I know it's not easy for you to accept this reality," Ahok wrote in the letter.
"It isn't easy for me either, but I've learnt to forgive and accept all of this if it is for the benefit of the nation and the country."
In the letter Ahok said he was worried an appeal would continue protests on the streets and would harm the economy.
"It is not right to continue to protest and hold demonstrations in the name of the process that I am going through at the moment," he said.
His wife endorsed the decision not to appeal.
"The children and I, along with the whole family, we are going to try to support him in his struggle," she said.
Prosecutors have lodged an appeal against the two-year jail term in Jakarta's High Court.
They had asked the North Jakarta District Court that the former Jakarta leader receive two years' remand and be jailed for a year if he insulted Islam again.
The panel of five judges unusually handed down a harsher penalty.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, world-politics, religion-and-beliefs, islam, indonesia