Indonesia’s Christmas bomber jailed
An Indonesian court has passed a 20 year jail sentence on a Jemaah Islamiah (JI) member for the bombing of the Philippine ambassador’s residence in 2000.
The Central Jakarta District Court also found Abd al-Jabbar guilty of involvement in a series of church bombings in the capital around Christmas the same year.
Presiding judge Pramodana Kusumah said on Monday the defendant was found “convincingly guilty” of killing two and wounding at least 18 in a campaign that severely injured the Filipino ambassador.
Key informant dead
Police said earlier this year much of their information on the Jakarta attack came from self-confessed JI member Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi.
He escaped a Manila prison in July, but was shot dead by Philippine security forces on Sunday, according to authorities there.
Indonesian police have also said they believe the bombing was funded by Hambali, the top JI suspect, captured in Thailand last August and now in US custody.
Bali
JI itself is blamed for last year’s Bali bombings which killed 202 people. However, Abd al-Jabbar was not found guilty of involvement in that attack.
But a number of other key suspects among the Bali bombers have been named as suspects in the embassy attack as well.
At least one JI Islamist has already been sentenced to death for those blasts.