Indonesia: Man Who Provided Support to Jakarta Attackers Gets 9-Year Term

An Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced a man to nine years in prison for providing cash and a firearm to one of the men who mounted a terror attack claimed by the so-called Islamic State in central Jakarta in January.

Saiful Muthohir, alias Abu Gar, 43, is the fourth man sent to prison thus far in connection with the attack, which left eight dead, including four perpetrators, and at least 24 people injured.

“In late December [2015], the defendant met Muhammad Ali in Srengseng, West Jakarta, to give him operation money in the amount of 70 million rupiah ($5,171),” head judge Eris Sudjarwanto said while delivering the ruling in court.

Muhammad Ali, 40, was one of four men who attacked a coffee shop near international embassies and the iconic National Monument (Monas) with explosives and guns at mid-morning on Jan. 14, 2016.

The judge said the cash handed over by Abu Gar was provided by Iwan Darmawan, also known as Rois, a man who is on death row for his role in the 2004 bombing at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta that killed 11 people.

In March, then-Jakarta Police Chief Tito Karnavian revealed that the Australian Embassy bomber was a local coordinator of the Jakarta 2016 attack, together with another convicted terrorist, Aman Abdurrahman, The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reported at the time. Both men are incarcerated at Nusakambangan Prison.

Abu Gar also passed instructions to Ali Rois to pick up a firearm at Serang, Banten, that was later found at the scene of the attack, the court heard.

“So the elements of conspiring, attempting or assisting a terrorist act are legally fulfilled,” Eris said.

The native of Cilacap, Central Java, was arrested on Feb. 19, 2016 in Malang, East Java. After hearing the sentence, Abu Gar, clad in a green shirt and blue cap, said simply, “I accept it.”

Second conviction

Three other men have already been sentenced in the attack: Dodi Suridi alias Ibnu Arsad, 23, Ali Makhmudin alias Lulu, 41, and Ali Hamka alias Abu Ibrahim, 48.

Dodi and Lulu were sentenced to 10 and eight years, respectively, for making bomb containers, while Ali Hamka was given a four-year sentence for facilitating acquisition of weapons for the attack from an illegal arms dealer in Sumedang, West Java.

Wednesday’s sentence marked the second time Abu Gar has been placed behind bars. In 2005, he was sentenced to nine years in jail for sheltering a perpetrator and hiding information about an attack on a police station in Loki, Ambon, that killed five police officers. But Abu Gar served only six years of that sentence.

At the same courthouse on Wednesday, three men found guilty of participating in a militant training in Cipanas, West Java, in November 2015 were each sentenced to three years in prison.

Abu Gar instructed participants in bomb-making at that training, according to Eris, the judge.

The men – Ahmad Rido, 40, Romlan alias Romli, 40, and Rudi Hadianto, 37 – were also arrested in Malang, East Java in February.

Ahmad Rido, left, Romlan alias Romli, and Rudi Hadianto listen to their sentence in East Jakarta District Court, Nov. 23, 2016. (Arie Firdaus/BenarNews)