Indonesian cleric sentenced to death over Starbucks attack
June 22, 2018
Indonesian cleric Aman Abdurrahman was sentenced to death on Friday by a court in Jakarta for ordering militants affiliated with the terror group "Islamic State" (IS) to carry out attacks, including a suicide bombing at a Starbucks in Jakarta in 2016.
Prosecutors said that several attacks in Indonesia occurred under his instructions given from prison, where he was serving a terrorism-related sentence.
Apart from the Starbucks bombing and ensuing gunfight, which killed four civilians and four militants, there was an attack on a bus terminal in Jakarta that left three police officers dead and an attack on a church in Kalimantan in which a 2-year-old girl died.
The hearing was guarded by several hundred police.
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Key ideologue
Prosecutors say Abdurrahman is the major force behind the IS ideology in Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim nation in the world.
Suicide bombings last month in the country's second-largest city, Surabaya, have fueled fears that more attacks could be imminent.
The attacks in Surabaya were carried out by families, including their young children. Twenty-six people, including 13 attackers, died.
Police say the leader of the attacks belonged to the network of militants that were under Abdurrahman's influence.
tj/kms (AFP, AP)
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