Court upholds sentence for JI S'pore head

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau

The Riau High Court upheld the conviction of Mas Slamet Kastari, the alleged Singapore head of the Jamaah Islamiyah terrorist group, it was announced on Thursday.

Kastari was sentenced to 18 months in jail by the Dumai District Court in Riau province on June 30, 2003, for immigration offenses. Riau lies next to Singapore.

Prosecutors had sought a two-year jail term for Kastari. The immigration charges carried a maximum penalty of eight years in prison.

The Dumai court found the Singaporean guilty of falsifying documents to enter Indonesia illegally.

"The convict was proven to have falsified state documents such as birth and marriage certificates, identity card and passport," said Aspar Siagian, spokesman for the Riau High Court.

The decision to uphold Kastari's 18-month jail term was reached on Wednesday night.

Aspar, one of three judges who heard Kastari's case, said Kastari was also guilty of entering Indonesia illegally.

The convict was given 14 days from Wednesday to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

Singapore has accused Kastari of leading the Jamaah Islamiyah terror group in the city state.

Kastari reportedly has told authorities that JI planned to attack U.S. military facilities in Singapore, but the plans were foiled. His testimony was the first admission by any Jamaah Islamiyah leader that the radical group had targeted Singapore.

Police in Riau have said they have no plans to file terror- related charges against one of Singapore's most wanted men.

Kastari was arrested earlier this year in Bengkalis, holding a fake ID card under the name of Edy Haryanto, which was issued by officials in the regency.

Indonesia has no plans to extradite Kastari to Singapore as the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.

However, Singapore has said it will send a team to Indonesia to meet with National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and ask permission to question Kastari.

In June, Kastari testified about the planned attacks on Singapore at the treason trial of Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who had been charged with being the spiritual leader of Jamaah Islamiyah.

Ba'asyir was sentenced to four years in prison by the Central Jakarta District Court for treason and immigration offenses.

Police have accused Jamaah Islamiyah of being behind last October's bombing on the resort island of Bali that killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists. They have not linked Kastari or Ba'asyir to the attacks.

Singapore detained about 30 suspected Muslim militants in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, accusing them of planning to blow up the U.S. Embassy and other Western targets there.

Jamaah Islamiyah, which has been linked to al Qaeda, wants to set up an Islamic state across much of Southeast Asia.