"Why was dad grilled like a chicken?" Son of man burned alive asks mother

Suspected thief Muhammad Alzahra's son has been asking for his father and questioned his mother why he had to suffer such a fate.

"Mum, where is father. Why is he not back yet," Alif Saputra, 4, kept asking his mother, Siti Zubaidah.

"I don't know how to answer him," Siti Zubaidah, 25 years-old, who is six months pregnant, told Liputan6.com.

Although the matter was kept a secret, the news of his father burnt to death had reached his son.

"Why was he grilled like a chicken? Was father a chicken?," he asked.

Siti Zubaidah questioned why her husband was not handed over to the police is he had really stolen an amplifier in a small mosque at Muara Bakti village, Babelan, Bekasi District.

"My husband was a human, he is not an animal," she told BBC Indonesia.

Muhammad Al-Zahra, 30, died after being beaten and burned alive after being suspected of stealing an amplifier on August 1.

According to a report in Serambi Indonesia, Muhammad Al-Zahra who was a repairman was believed to have stopped at a mosque for Asar prayers.

The report said Muhammad Al-Zahra who was carrying the amplifier had carried it inside the mosque as he was afraid of it being stolen but the action caused suspicion among the people there.

He was then chased by the villagers after being suspected of being a thief. He was detained about two kilometres away from the mosque.

He was then beaten and the villagers poured petrol on him before setting him on fire alive.

Several suspects have been picked up following his death.