Prosecutors ask for the death penalty for the 'the evil genius' behind the Surabaya attacks
Aman Abdurrahman is the spiritual guide of Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), the largest terrorist group in Indonesia linked to the Islamic State (IS). He is accused in connection with at least three attacks. He was able to coordinate attacks from prison, where he was serving a previous sentence.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Prosecutors asked the South Jakarta District Court to impose the death penalty on Aman Abdurrahman (pictured), the spiritual leader of Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), the main terrorist group in Indonesia that is linked to the Islamic State (IS).
Aman is accused of inspiring several attacks across Indonesia in recent years, including recent bombings against three Christian churches and the Surabaya police headquarters (East Java).
In total, 25 people, including 13 suicide bombers, were killed in the group’s latest series of terrorist attacks. Three terrorists died as they prepared a bomb.
Aman has also been accused of being the ideologue of at least three attacks carried out between 2016 and 2017. One was the explosion and the subsequent gun battle on 14 January 2016 in Thamrin (Central Jakarta), in which four people and the four bombers lost their life.
The second attack involved the Protestant church in Samarinda, on 13 November 2016, in which a two-year-old child died.
The third attack took place on 25 May 2017 at the Kampung Melayu terminal in East Jakarta when three police officers died. All these actions were claimed by IS.
JAD militants are also responsible for the violent revolt in the detention centre in the headquarters of the National Police Mobile Brigade (Mako Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Depok Regency (West Java).
This morning, in a courthouse under tight security (153 police officers and 30 soldiers), prosecutors asked the court to impose the death penalty on Aman Abdurrahman.
“We found nothing to make more lenient sentence against him,” Prosecutor Anita Dewayani said in the plea.
“The defendant was a terror mastermind who has orchestrated (acts of terror) and the founder of JAD whose ideology is against the Unitary Republic of Indonesia (NKRI),” the prosecutor added.
“He also criticised NKRI’s Pancasila as illicit and that said that a terror war should be waged. He instigated hatred against the state and motivated his members to launch attacks claiming lives of innocent people.”
The Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) calls JAD "the largest faction of IS supporters in Indonesia," including followers of pro-IS ideologue Aman and Jamaah Anshorul Tauhid (JAT) leader Abu Bakar Baasyir.
JAD, which means "Partisans of the [Islamic] State Group," was previously a generic term for anyone who had sworn allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Only later did it evolve into its current meaning in Malang in November 2015 after 24 fighters came back from Iraq and chose Aman as their leader.
Aman was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2004 after a failed terror plot in Depok, West Java, but was released for good behaviour in 2008.
Soon after, he joined Ba'asyir to set up a joint terrorism training camp in Aceh in 2010 that united various terrorist groups, leading to another prison sentence of nine years.
Despite his incarceration, Aman was still able to coordinate the bloodiest attacks of recent years in Indonesia.
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01/06/2018 10:19
11/10/2019 13:43
