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| Southeast Asia |
| 3 ex-students tried for harboring terrorists in Indonesia |
| 2010-07-05 |
| Prosecutors on Monday demanded seven-year sentences for three former students of a state Islamic university on trial for their alleged role in last year’s twin hotel bombings in the capital that killed seven people. The three defendants — Afham Ramadhan, Sonny Jayadi and Fajar Firdaus, who all attended Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) in Ciputat, Tangerang — are being tried separately at the South Jakarta District Court. They are charged with harboring two militants, Saefudin Zuhri and Syahrir, who were wanted by police for their alleged involvement in the July 17 attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta. In September last year, the defendants allegedly rented a room at a boarding house for Saefudin and Syahrir, and occasionally brought them food. Despite knowing they were sought by the police, they failed to report the suspected terrorists to the authorities, prosecutors said. Saefudin and Syahrir were eventually killed during a police raid at their boarding house in Ciputat, near the UIN campus. Afham and Fajar, who were Saefudin’s nephews, paid for the room. Sonny, meanwhile, is a friend of Afham’s. Prosecutor Iwan Setiawan said Saefudin had told Sonny, 24, who was a part-time employee at the State Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) at the time, that he was involved in the bombings. During their stay in the boarding house, Saefudin and Syahrir also discussed jihad with Sonny and asked him to monitor radio and television news concerning the hotel bombings, including reports about the death of terror mastermind Noordin M Top during a raid in Solo, Central Java. Fajar, 26, became suspect in the case after police discovered a letter from Saefudin asking him to bring him food to the boarding house. He was introduced by the prosecution as a recent psychology graduate from UIN. |
| Posted by:ryuge |