Three students charged with harboring terrorist

JAKARTA: The South Jakarta District Court charged three students on Monday with harboring a fugitive terrorist suspect, Saifuddin Zuhri, who was killed in a police raid in October last year.

"The accused purportedly aided a terrorist, provided facilities and harbored him," prosecutor Feri Tas said in the indictment.

The three suspects were Afham Ramadhan, Fajar Firdaus and Sony Jayadi. They allegedly provided Zuhri with a safehouse in Ciputat, just outside Jakarta.

Zuhri was reported to be the recruiter of the suicide bombers who attacked the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta in July last year. Zuhri was the second-most wanted terror suspect after Malaysian-born Noordin M. Top, who was killed in a previous raid in Surakarta, Central Java.

The trial was adjourned to April 19 when the defendants will present their defense plea. - JP