An Indonesian court has sentenced seven people for allegedly having links to and conspiring with the Islamic State (IS). This report comes in the heels of radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir submitting an appeal against his conviction.
In a report by ABC News, the sentencing marks the first time anyone was sent to prison for being linked to the terrorist group. A three-judge panel at the West Jakarta District Court said that the first four men were found guilty of violating Indonesia's anti-terrorism law. Accordingly, the four men identified as Abdul Hakim Munabari, Ahmad Junaedi, Helmi Muhammad Alamudi, and Ridwan Sungkar joined IS jihadists and attended their military-style training. The four men were sentenced differently but their prison terms last three and four years.
Two of the seven men were said to be recruiters, Manila Bulletin reported. They have been identified as Aprimul Henry and Koswara Ibnu Abdullah. The two were also sentenced to three and four years behind bars for helping the four aforementioned men travel to Syria.
The last man of the seven was identified as Tuah Febriwansyah. He received the most number of years behind bars. Seattle Times reported that he is also known as Muhammad Fachry and that he was sentenced for actively spreading the terrorist group's propaganda via his radical website. Accordingly, he posted violent videos of terrorism activities, one of which shows the militants in Syria training Indonesian children.
As for Bashir, the 77-year-old is the founder of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant network. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for setting up a militant camp in Aceh province, but was later reduced to nine. He wanted to overturn his 2011 conviction for violating the anti-terrorism law.
Bashir is said to be the "spiritual leader" of the al-Qaeda linked group he has started and was held responsible for the 2002 bombings in Bali that killed more than 200. He also expressed his support for the IS.
The appeal of Bashir will be sent to the Supreme Court later this week for the ruling. In his latest court appearance, Bashir said, "I hope judges understand that my deed of helping training camp in Aceh was my religious obligation." He admitted he is guilty according to the government law, but claimed what he did was correct according to Islam.
