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Radical cleric denies involvement in Thamrin attack
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People grouped under the #kamitidaktakut (we are not afraid) coalition leave flowers at the site of a suicide bombing on Jl. MH Thamrin on Jan. 15, 2016, a day after the attack that claimed the lives of three civilians and five alleged terrorists. (the jakarta post/Wienda Parwitasari)
T
he defendant in the Thamrin suicide bombing trial, Aman Abdurrahman, has always maintained that he knew nothing about the case, since he was in prison when the attack took place.
The South Jakarta District Court has so far held three hearings and heard witness testimony from four victims of the attack, which took place on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta on Jan. 14, 2016.
In the second hearing, held last Friday, the prosecutor presented one of those victims, police officer Second Insp. Denny Mahieu, and in the third hearing on Tuesday, the prosecutor presented three more victims: civilian John Hansen and two more police officers, Second Insp. Dodi Maryadi and Second Insp. Suhadi.
“I am not connected to this case. I have been in prison since 2010,” Aman said after the hearing.
The radical cleric, who is known as a supporter of the terror group Islamic State (IS), is alleged to be the mastermind behind the Thamrin attack, which left three civilians and five alleged bombers dead. At the time of the attack, Aman was still serving a sentence at the Nusa Kambangan prison in Cilacap, Central Java.
In the first hearing in the case on Feb.15, prosecutor Anita Dewayani claimed one of Aman’s followers, Saiful Munthohir, had visited the cleric in prison in November 2015.
Saiful allegedly told Aman that a caliphate leader in Syria had ordered him to carry out an attack similar to the one in Paris, which had taken place that same month.
Aman, she added, had told Saiful to recruit a field coordinator to execute the plan. (wnd)
