Jakarta hotel bomb suspect convicted

JAKARTA, June 15 (UPI) -- An Indonesian man has been sentenced to eight years in jail for his part in the deadly 2009 hotel bombings in Jakarta.

Amir Abdillah, 34, was also involved in a failed plot to kill Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudohoyono last year, the court heard.

Abdillah's conviction under anti-terror laws was for concealing information and harboring terrorists. The sentence was two years fewer than what prosecutors had been asking for since the trial started in February.

Prosecutors claimed that Abdillah was a member of the Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah which has been blamed for a string of attacks within Indonesia.

He was also acting as a driver for one the country's most wanted terror suspects, Noordin Mohammad Top who was killed during a police raid last year. In that role he transported explosives to be used in the attempted attack on the president.

During the trial he denied that he knew the man he was driving around was Top. "I just did as I was told. I was told to deliver ingredients for cakes," he told reporters.

"I didn't know they were actually explosive materials. I was asked to drive a cleric around. I had no idea he was Noordin Top."

Abdillah also rented a house that was later used by the bombers.

The assassination attempt on the president was planned for last Aug. 17 during an Independence Day ceremony where many foreigners including Americans would have been present.

Police said the assassination attempt was part of a larger plan that would have imitated the 2008 terrorist siege in Mumbai in which more than 170 people died, including all but one of the 10 militants. Hundreds of people were injured in the multi-pronged attack that severely damaged two luxury hotels, a historic train station and a Jewish center.

The foiled presidential assassination and the conviction of Abdillah are seen as more progress against the Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah insurgency.

About 50 men have been arrested since February and eight have been killed in police raids while more than a dozen more suspects have been identified and are being sought by police. In March police tracked down and killed Jemaah Islamiyah leader Dulmatin, believed to have been behind the deadly October 2002 Bali bombings in which more than 200 people died.

Despite the successes, security forces and central government must remain vigilant against "a major mutation" among known jihadi groups, according to a recent report from Brussels' International Crisis Group.

The report "Indonesia: Jihadi Surprise in Aceh," said that extremists remain at large in the Indonesian archipelago of Aceh.

One of the key reasons they are able to operate is because of corruption, the report claimed. This has led to a jihadi coalition calling itself "al-Qaida Indonesia in Aceh," the 31-page report said.

"This group defined itself in opposition to the other two main streams of Indonesian jihadism," said Sidney Jones, ICG Asia program senior adviser. "It was angry with Jemaah Islamiyah for abandoning jihad and critical of the late Noordin Top for having no long-term strategy."

The Indonesian government should tighten control over prisons, increase training for police in confronting armed suspects and consider banning paramilitary training by non-state actors.