Judges in the South Jakarta district gave the harshest sentences to Abdul Muis and Rahman Kalale, who received 19 years in prison for crimes that included the 2006 killing of Reverend Irianto Kongkoli, who was shot in the head while shopping with his wife in Palu, the provincial capital. The two men were also found guilty in the beheadings of three Christian schoolgirls in 2005 and the non fatal shootings of two high school students.
Alleged members of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network left a handwritten note close to the bodies of the girls, vowing more killings to avenge the deaths of Muslims in earlier sectarian violence on Sulawesi island.
The two men were also involved in the bombing of a busy New Year’s market selling pork that killed eight people on December 31, 2005, the court said. Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims.
OTHER MILITANTS
Other militants Syaiful Anam and Amril Niode received 15 years in prison; Agus Nur Muhammad received 14 years and Yudi Heryanto received 10 years behind bars. Anam and Niode were found guilty of bombing a marketplace in the Christian town of Tentena in Poso in May 2005. An accomplice in the bombing is being tried separately.
The South Jakarta District Court sentenced four others, Syaiful Anamm, Amril Niode, Agus Nur Muhammad and Yudi Heryanto, to jail terms ranging from 10 and 18 years for bomb-making and plotting attacks against Christians. Court observers said judges applied a harsh anti-terror law imposed after the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.
Amril Niode, said he had no regrets about his involvement in a 2005 bomb attack at a marketplace in the predominantly Christian town of Tentena and other crimes. The 22-year-old militant said the sentencing "is a consequence of my jihad (holy war." Anam said, adding that he thought 18 years was too heavy a sentence. "From my perspective, it’s too heavy because those I killed were infidels. I should not have been punished," he said.
It was unclear if either side would appeal.
"STRUGGLE’S CONSEQUENCE"
"This is a consequence of our struggle," said defendant Syaiful Anan, a 26-year-old militant from Tawangmangu in Central Java province, as bailiffs took him from the courtroom. "Eighteen years is not a problem. There will be a more noble trial before God."
Wide-scale sectarian violence killed more than 2,000 people between 1998 and 2002 in the province, roughly split between Christians and Muslims. Advocacy groups have expressed concerns about growing pressure on the country’s Christian minority. In one of the latest reported incidents authorities closed down at least two churches in the last two weeks after Muslim protests.
In Banten province Pastor Bedali Hulu of the Jakarta Christian Baptist Church Pisangan Jaya village was told by authorities to leave the area after militants from the Islamic Defender Forces on November 21 reportedly attacked his home where he held church meetings. Authorities in West Jakarta also halted worship servives at Damai Kristus or ‘Christ’s Peace, a Catholic church in the Kampung Duri area, where dozen of Muslims demonstrated November 23, news reports said.
Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, with nearly 90 percent of its 235 million people practicing the faith.
