Indonesian Court Convicts, Sentences Top 2 Jemaah Islamiyah Militants

[Valin]

Benar News

Arie Firdaus
Jakarta
2020-07-20

A Jakarta court on Monday convicted and sentenced the leader of an al-Qaeda-linked militant group and his deputy on terrorism charges for helping rebuild Jemaah Islamiyah, an outlawed network blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings – Indonesia’s deadliest terror attack.

Separate panels at the East Jakarta District Court sentenced JI leader Para Wijayanto, 55, and Budi Tri Karyanto, 42, to seven years and six and a half years in prison, respectively, after finding them guilty of the charges, which included sending Jemaah Islamiyah members to Syria to fight alongside opposition rebels there.

Para restructured JI – al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Southeast Asia – after he assumed leadership of the organization following an Indonesian court ruling in 2008 that banned the group, the panel of judges at the East Jakarta District Court found.

“Even though no violence was used, the defendant had already made plans and prepared followers with the intention of establishing an Islamic State in Indonesia,” chief judge Alex Adam Faisal said.

(Snip)