Prosecutors demand death for radical cleric

Jakarta: Indonesian prosecutors demanded the death penalty for a radical cleric over his role in a 2016 terror attack committed by a group linked to a wave of suicide bombings this week.

Dozens of officers from an elite unit were sent to guard the trial of Aman Abdurrahman who is accused of authorising a gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta two years ago that left four attackers and four civilians dead.

They were the first attacks claimed by Islamic State in SouthEast Asia.

Abdurrahman – considered the de facto head of all IS supporters in Indonesia – is also the spiritual leader of local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

Authorities said JAD was behind the 2016 attack and suicide bombings in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya this week.

Two families – including a nine and 12-year-old girl – blew themselves up at churches and a police station, killing 13.

Authorities have not charged Abdurrahman, 46, over this week’s attacks.

Yesterday, prosecutors called for Abdurrahman to be executed for the 2016 attacks.

“We demand this panel of judges sentence Aman Abdurrahman to death,” lead prosecutor Anita Dewayani, told the South Jakarta district court.

Abdurrahman is already in prison on a separate terror conviction.

The families who committed the suicide bombings knew each other and belonged to the same religious study group, along with a third family linked to the attacks.

All had ties to JAD with the father of the church suicide bombers identified as a local leader in the group. — AFP