ICC Note: Aman Abdurrahman, the spiritual leader of Jammah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), Indonesia’s largest terrorist group linked to the Islamic State, was sentenced to death on June 22. He was found guilty for his involvement in the Thamrin suicide attack in 2016 and allegedly behind the 2016 Samarinda church bombing and recent Surabaya church bombings, where dozens of people lost their lives.  

06/22/2018 Indonesia (Asia News) – The South Jakarta District Court has condemned to death the Islamist religious Aman Abdurrahman (photo), spiritual guide of Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (Jad), the nation’s largest terrorist group linked to the Islamic State (IS).

The judges ascertained his involvement in the suicide attack on January 14, 2016 in Thamrin (Central Jakarta), in which four people lost their lives. The operation was the first on Indonesian soil to be claimed by IS.

Last month, prosecutors had requested capital punishment for the defendant. He is considered the inspirer of two other attacks between 2016 and 2017: the dynamite attack on the Protestant church of Samarinda, which took place on November 13, 2016 and in which a two-year-old child died; the bombs at the Kampung Melayu terminal in East Jakarta on May 25, 2017, when three police officers died.

Added to these are the most recent attacks on the three Christian churches and the Surabaya police headquarters (East Java). Last month, two families – including 9 and 12-year-old girls – blew themselves up at the places of worship and the governmental structure, killing 13 people.

…

For interviews with Gina Goh, ICC’s Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: [email protected].