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Jamaah Islamiyah militans convicted of terrorism
A South Jakarta District Court sentenced two Jamaah Islamiyah activists on Monday to a total of 17 years in prison for aiding suspects in last year's hotel bombings in Jakarta A panel of judges sentenced Aris Susanto to eight years in prison for harboring two terrorists last year in his hometown of Temanggung, Central Java
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South Jakarta District Court sentenced two Jamaah Islamiyah activists on Monday to a total of 17 years in prison for aiding suspects in last year's hotel bombings in Jakarta
A panel of judges sentenced Aris Susanto to eight years in prison for harboring two terrorists last year in his hometown of Temanggung, Central Java.
In a separate trial, judges sentenced Supono to nine years in prision for transporting suspected terrorists from Central Java to Jakarta.
"The panel has convincing evidence that the defendant, Aris Susanto, harbored suspected terrorists Syaifudin Zuhri and Ibrohim at his relatives' home in Temanggung, Central Java," presiding judge Haswandi said when reading the verdict.
Zuhri and Ibrohim have been implicated by police in last year's bombings at the JW Marriott Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton Jakarta, in Kuningan, Jakarta.
Police allege that the pair were Malaysian-born terror suspect Noordin M. Top's closest aides and assisted him in orchestrating the bombings.
Nine people were killed and 42 injured in the attacks.
Ibrohim was slain in a police raid in Temanggung and Zuhri was shot dead when police raided his boarding house outside Jakarta in Ciputat.
Haswandi said that the judges had also determined from witnesses at the trial that Aris, who was arrested on Aug. 7 last year, had harbored Ibrohim and Zuhri out of solidarity with fellow members of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist organization.
The judges said that JI later became Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid, which is led by infamous firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.
"*Ba'asyir* shares the same ideology of other JI members that harbored fellow members. They believed that their souls will go straight to heaven after they died," he said.
Aris had earlier told the court that he joined Jamaah Islamiyah because he was fascinated by the teachings of Urwah, an ustaad (religious teacher).
Urwah, Noordin M. Top, Ario Sudarso and Adib Susilo were slain in a police raid in Kepuhsari Village, Surakarta, in September 2009.
A survivor of the raid, Adib's wife Putri Munawaroh, is now standing trial at the South Jakarta District Court.
"Urwah ordered Aris to provide a safe house to Ibrohim and Zuhri," Haswandi said.
None of the witnesses who had testified in court disputed allegations that Aris had harbored Zuhri and Ibrohim.
Aris's attorney had failed to present a witness who could testify in Aris' favor at the trial, Haswandi said.
Aris said that he would ask his attorneys for advice on whether to appeal the verdict to the High Court.
Supono, who was sentenced to nine years in prison, drove Noordin M. Top and other accomplices from Surakarta to Jakarta to execute the terror attack. Supono was also Urwah's Koran recital teacher.
Supono was arrested by Detachment 88, Indonesia's police antiterror unit, at a market in Surakarta, where he was posing as a scavenger.
Police located Noordin's hiding place in Kepuhsari hamlet using information obtained from Supono.
