Court upholds sentence for JI S'pore head
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.