2016 terror attack: Death for Indonesia cleric
Abdur Rahman is considered the de facto head of all Daesh supporters in country
Indonesian cleric Aman Abdur Rahman was sentenced to death yesterday over his role in a 2016 Daesh terror attack that saw a suicide bomber blow himself up at a Jakarta Starbucks cafe.
Heavily armed police guarded the hearing at a Jakarta court — which had earlier found Abdur Tahman guilty of masterminding the attack that killed four — as it ordered his execution.
“[The defendant] has been proven to have committed a criminal act of terrorism,” said judge Akhmad Jaini, who also cited Abdur Rahman’s involvement in other attacks for handing down the death penalty.
“He will be sentenced death.”
The convicted terror mastermind showed little reaction to the sentence.
Executions are carried out by firing squad in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, which has long struggled with Islamist militancy.
In 2002, bombings at the resort island of Bali killed over 200 — mostly foreign tourists.
It was Indonesia’s worst-ever terror attack. to ■
The assault in the capital two years ago saw security forces battle gun-toting militants near the cafe where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives. Considered the de facto head of all Daesh supporters in Indonesia, Abdur Rahman 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 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. Despite being imprisoned since 2010, Abdur Rahman has recruited militants to join Daesh.