An Indonesian court has sentenced a Muslim man to 12 years in prison for providing a pistol to the aide of a leading member of accused terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Joko Wibowo, alias Abu Sayaf, was convicted of giving the gun and 20 bullets to Subur Sugiarto, a top aide of Noordin Top, a Malaysian fugitive accused of being a leader of JI.
The three-member panel of judges in Central Java on Wednesday found Wibowo, 25, guilty of violating anti-terrorism laws and possessing an illegal firearm that was to be used to train fighters.
Wibowo said he got the gun while fighting Christians in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province.
Indonesian authorities say Wibowo was a member of JI, the group blamed for a series of attacks on Western attacks in Indonesia since 2002.
They included nightclub and restaurant bombings on the resort island of Bali and bombings at the Australian embassy and the JW Marriot hotel in Jakarta.
Abu Bakar Bashir, an Indonesian of Yemeni descent, is thought to be JI's spiritual leader.
He was released earlier this year after serving two years and two months in prison for openly backing the 2002 bombings and has since returned to the Ngruki pesantren, the Islamic school he co-founded on the outskirts of Solo Indonesia.
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Jemaah Islamiyah
Means Islamic Organisation in Arabic.
Seeks to establish pan-Islamic state across Southeast Asia.
Allegedly has cells in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. |
JI, whose name dates to the early 1970s, traces its roots to Darul Islam, a violent movement advocating the application of Islamic law in Indonesia.
The last known attack carried out by JI was on October 1, 2005, when a wave of suicide bombings killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 100 in Bali.
Experts disagree on the extent to which JI might have ties to al-Qaeda.
Some say JI is al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian wing while others argue that JI's regional goals do not match al-Qaeda's global ambitions. Abu Bakar Bashir has denied any connection with al-Qaeda.
Western and Asian intelligence officials say that while JI's recruitment continues, there are some indications that its support base is shrinking.