Indonesia jails 7 in crackdown on IS sympathisers

JAKARTA — An Indonesian court yesterday handed down prison terms to seven men accused of supporting Islamic State (IS) amid a security crackdown on the militant group’s suspected sympathisers.

The men were jailed for between three and five years on charges ranging from training with a military camp in Syria to propagating extremist ideology and raising funds to help Indonesians travel to the Middle East to join Islamic State. The sentences were lower than the eight years’ jail sought by prosecutors.

“What was proven was the defendants’ intent to conspire in, assist, and prepare terrorism-related activities,” said presiding judge Syahlan, who only goes by one name, adding that it was not necessary to prove they had actually carried out any attacks.

A three-judge panel at the West Jakarta District Court found four of the men guilty of violating Indonesia’s anti-terrorism law by joining IS jihadists and attending the group’s military-style training. Ahmad Junaedi, Ridwan Sungkar, Helmi Muhammad Alamudi and Abdul Hakim Munabari were sentenced to between three and four years’ imprisonment. The court heard that Helmi had stayed in an IS camp in Syria for two weeks, working as a guard for two hours a day. He had also facilitated the departure of 39 Indonesians to join IS from June 2014, including ordering plane tickets.

The four men’s recruiters, Aprimul Henry and Koswara Ibnu Abdullah, were sentenced to three and four years in jail for helping them go to Syria.

The seventh, Tuah Febriwansyah, who is also known as Muhammad Fachry, received the heaviest sentence of five years in jail for actively spreading IS propaganda through his own radical website and posting violent videos of terrorism activities on the Internet, including one showing militants in Syria giving military-style training to Indonesian children.

Indonesia has been on high alert since a bomb and gun attack in the capital Jakarta last month claimed by IS stamped the group’s presence in the region for the first time. Eight people were killed, four of them the attackers themselves.

Indonesian authorities estimate that over 600 Indonesians have joined IS in Syria or Iraq. agencies