ISIS cleric is sentenced to death for masterminding the group's first attack in Indonesia - a suicide bombing at a Starbucks
- Indonesian cleric Aman Abdurrahman has been found guilty of ordering 2016 attack and sentenced to death
- Atrocity saw a gun battle involving a team of jihadists in Jakarta and a suicide bombing at a Starbucks café
- Abdurrahman kissed the floor after the decision while armed officers guarding him said 'praise be to God'
- Executions are carried out by firing squad in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation
By Afp and Julian Robinson for MailOnline
By Afp and Julian Robinson for MailOnline
Published: 07:14 AEST, 22 June 2018 | Updated: 20:24 AEST, 22 June 2018
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Abdurrahman sat on a chair in the centre of the court as a court sentenced him to death over the Jakarta atrocity in 2016 |
An ISIS cleric has been sentenced to death for masterminding the group's first attack in Indonesia - a suicide bombing at a Starbucks cafe.
Aman Abdurrahman had earlier been found guilty of ordering the atrocity, which left four dead in the city of Jakarta in 2016.
Several hundred heavily armed counterterrorism police guarded the hearing for the sentencing as Abdurrahman was convicted over what was the first attack claimed by the international terror network in Southeast Asia.
During a trial, prosecutors said Abdurrahman's instructions from prison, where he was serving a terrorism-related sentence, resulted in several attacks in Indonesia.
Executions are carried out by firing squad in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country, which has long struggled with Islamist militancy.
The deadly assault in the capital two years ago saw security forces battle gun-toting militants near the cafe where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives.
'(The defendant) has been proven to have committed a criminal act of terrorism,' said judge Akhmad Jaini, who also cited Abdurrahman's involvement in other plots for the ruling. He will be sentenced to death.'
Abdurrahman, who sat on a defendant's chair in the middle of the courtroom, appeared bored and showed little reaction as machine gun-toting guards stood nearby.
He gestured to his legal team and briefly kissed the floor as the panel of five judges announced the sentence while counterterrorism officers guarding him uttered 'praise be to God.'
His lawyer, Asludin Hatjani, described the ruling as 'unfair', citing a lack of evidence connecting Abdurrahman to the deadly attack.
In 2002, bombings at the resort island of Bali killed over 200 - mostly foreign tourists - in Indonesia's worst-ever terror attack.
Two years ago, Jakarta came under attack by a team of gun-wielding jihadists. Prosecutors demanded last month that Abdurrahman be handed a death sentence for his role in that assault.
Considered the de facto head of ISIS supporters in Indonesia, Abdurrahman - believed to be 46 - is also the spiritual leader of local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).
Considered the de facto head of ISIS supporters in Indonesia, Abdurrahman - believed to be 46 - is also the spiritual leader of local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).
Authorities have said JAD was involved in the 2016 Jakarta attack and a recent wave of suicide bombings in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya.
Two families - including girls aged nine and 12 - blew themselves up at churches and a police station last month, killing 13.
Authorities have not charged Abdurrahman - who was already in jail on a separate terror conviction - over the Surabaya attacks.
Despite being imprisoned since 2010, he has recruited militants to join IS, is thought to have been in communication with leaders of the jihadist group, and is the main translator for ISIS propaganda in Indonesia, according to analysts and authorities.
Although considered Indonesia's largest pro-ISIS coalition, JAD's structure and links to the network are murky.
The Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict has said JAD is 'a generic term' used for any ISIS supporter and functions more as an umbrella organisation than a coherent group.
Formed in 2015, JAD is thought to be composed of some two dozen Indonesian groups that have pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to the US State Department, which last year designated it as an extremist network.
Apart from the 2016 Jakarta attacks, JAD carried out suicide attacks the following year which killed three policemen and injured a dozen others at a busy bus station in Jakarta.
It has also been linked to a series of other plots including a firebomb attack on a church that killed a toddler and a plan to launch a Christmas-time suicide bombing. This was foiled when the militants planning the attack were killed.
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Cleric Aman Abdurrahman (centre, surrounded by armed guards in court today) has been sentenced to death in Indonesia after being found guilty of ordering an ISIS attack that left four people dead in Jakarta in 2016 |
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