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Police to beef up court security ahead of Aman Abdurrahman verdict
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Armed personnel of the National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism unit guard defendant Aman Abdurrahman during a hearing on May 25 at the South Jakarta District Court. Aman, a convicted terrorist, is on trial in connection with the January 2016 Thamrin bombings in Central Jakarta. (Antara/Willy Kurniawan)
T
he South Jakarta Police plan to deploy 378 officers to secure the South Jakarta District Court on Friday, when the court will issue its verdict in the trial of pro-Islamic State (IS) cleric Aman Abdurrahman. Aman faces the death penalty for allegedly inspiring a series of terror attacks, including the January 2016 Thamrin bombings in Central Jakarta.
Special security measures would be taken, as it was a terror trial, said South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Indra Jafar.
He added that the police would secure the entire courthouse against explosives.
“We will secure the court so no explosives can be brought on the premises. The courthouse should be ‘clean’,” Indra said on Wednesday as quoted by tempo.co.
The police plan to check and monitor the courthouse from 6 a.m. on Friday.
Earlier in the trial, the prosecution accused Aman of instigating at least five terror attacks in 2016 and 2017, including the bombing and shootout on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta.
His teachings were believed to be behind other terror attacks, such as the Samarinda Oikumene church bombing on Nov. 13, 2016 in East Kalimantan that killed a toddler, and the Kampung Melayu twin bombings on May 25, 2017 in East Jakarta that killed three police officers.
On June 28 last year, Aman’s followers attacked the North Sumatra Police station, stabbing to death an off-duty police officer.
The attacks targeting police continued on Sept. 11, when a man shot a police officer as he was riding a motorcycle in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara.
Aman denied the charges against him at a hearing on May 25, saying that he was not involved in any of the attacks.
He denounced in his defense plea the recent terror attacks in Indonesia, saying the perpetrators were ignorant and mentally ill. (cal)
