Jakarta - Government prosecutors on Tuesday demanded prison
term ranging from seven years to 15 years for five suspected Islamic
militants on trial for allegedly plotting to bomb a cafe and kill a
Christian priest.
Prosecutors told the South Jakarta court that the defendants were
guilty of violating the country's tough anti-terrorism laws, enacted
just weeks after the October 2002 bombings of two nightspots on the
resort island of Bali that killed at least 202 people.
Prosecutors sought 15 years in prison each for two of the five -
Abdurrahman Thaib and M Agus Toni - and sought sentences of up to
eight years for the other defendants.
The trial of a Singaporean Muslim militant, Muhammad Hasan bin
Zaynudin, was still underway. Prosecutors were also seeking a prison
sentence for Hasan, who claimed to have met al-Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden and undergone basic military training in Afghanistan.
Prosecutors accused the defendants of plotting to attack a cafe in
the West Sumatra town of Bukittinggi and kill a Christian priest in
West Java in 2005.
The defendants are among 10 suspected members of the Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI) militant network arrested in June and July last year
during raids on several locations in Palembang, the capital of South
Sumatra province.
Police seized 20 assembled bombs, dozens of kilograms of potassium
chlorate and other explosive materials as well as several hand
grenades during the raids.
Police said they believed Muhammad was a close aide to Malaysian
bomb-maker Azahari bin Husin, who was killed in a shootout with
police at his East Java provinces hideout in late 2005.
Counter-terrorism police are still hunting for Malaysian
bomb-maker Noordin Mohammad Top, who allegedly leads a breakaway
faction of JI and is believed to be a key player behind most major
bombings in Indonesia.
The country's anti-terror police have arrested some 300 militants
in recent years, but authorities say the threat of more attacks
remains, even though the country has not suffered a bombing since
2005.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story