An Indonesian district court yesterday sentenced three Muslim militants to seven years in prison each for their involvement in the bombing the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last August that left 13 people dead.
The South Jakarta district court said in its ruling the three, identified as Suprapto 35, Muhammad Solihin, 24, and Heru Setyanto, 29, were guilty of violating anti-terrorism laws. The laws were enacted just weeks after the October 2002 bombings of two nightspots in Bali that left 202 people dead, mostly foreign tourists.
"The three defendants have been legally and convincingly guilty for helping the others to commits act of terrorism," presiding judge Effendi said in his ruling.
"The defendants' actions triggered massive fears among the community," Effendi said.
The three were found to have been involved in transporting explosive materials from Dumai in eastern Sumatra to Pekanbaru and Bengkulu, at the request of Toni Togar, another suspect in the Marriott bombing.
The explosive materials were then brought to Jakarta, where they were later assembled into a bomb and detonated outside the Marriott hotel on Aug. 5 of last year, leaving 13 people dead and more than 100 others injured.
The three men convicted are among 20 suspects to be convicted in connection with the Marriott bombing. Four other suspects have been sentenced to terms ranging from three to 10 years in prison.
The suspects were members of the al-Qaeda-linked regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which has also been blamed for the Oct. 12, 2002, Bali bombings.
More than 100 Muslim militants and alleged JI members have been arrested since the Bali blasts and the Marriott bombing. Three of them have been sentenced to death for their major roles in the Bali explosion, while nearly 30 others were convicted from three years to life in prison.
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