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Afif: A product of a failed penitentiary system
Following his death, Sunakim, alias Afif, 32, has become notorious in his own right
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ollowing his death, Sunakim, alias Afif, 32, has become notorious in his own right. An image of him pointing a gun at police officers while wearing a simple black shirt, matching cap, blue jeans and a large backpack, was immortalized moments before his death and shared by netizens across the country.
Afif has been identified as one of two gunmen shot down by the police during Thursday's attack at the Sarinah shopping center on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta.
However, not much else is known about him. National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti confirmed Afif's identity on Friday and said that the latter was among 40 men arrested in Aceh in 2010 for illegal firearms possession and being involved in underground combat training.
He was eventually sentenced in the same year by the West Jakarta District Court to seven years in prison, a sentence that was further strengthened by the Jakarta higher court in March 2011. He was imprisoned at the Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta, where his interest in IS allegedly peaked.
Afif was released early from prison in 2015 after penitentiary officials were convinced that he had behaved well while serving his term despite the fact that he repeatedly rejected any programs aimed at easing his extremist mindset while in prison.
The police have also named Afif as a follower of terror convict Aman Abdurrahman, a radical cleric currently serving a nine-year stretch at the Nusakambangan prison in Cilacap, Central Java, for aiding a paramilitary camp in Aceh led by Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid's (JAT) Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.
Afif is suspected of being a disciple of Aman while the two served time together in the Cipinang penitentiary.
According to Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) director Sidney Jones, Aman pledged his allegiance to IS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in May 2014.
Although Afif was allegedly born in Kalensari village in Subang, West Java, the National Police's counterterrorism unit Densus 88 raided on Friday evening a house that he rented in Bogor, West Java, with his wife and child.
The house was empty when the police arrived. However, they managed to confiscate several documents and books on religion and jihad.
