Thursday 16 June 2011

Terror Cleric In Indonesia Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison

South Jakarta District Court has sentenced firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir to 15 years in prison, after it found the defendant guilty of committing an act of terrorism.

In his verdict read out at the court hearing on Thursday, presiding judge Herri Swantoro said Ba'asyir stood against the government's cause to fight terrorism and had once been sentenced for a similar crime but had repeated the offense.

Herri said Ba'asyir's old age and behavior during the court proceedings were among the mitigating factors.

“[Ba’asyir] planned and/or encouraged other people intentionally to use violence or threats of violence to create terror and fear among the people and cause massive [numbers of] victims,” Herri said.

The verdict was far lower than the life sentence demanded by state prosecutors.

Ba'asyir has been accused of planning and persuading people to support a military-style training facility in Jantho Mountain in Aceh.He allegedly collected Rp 350 million (US$ 41,000) from two donors, Haryadi Usman (Rp 150 million) and Syarif Usman (Rp 200 million).

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