Indonesia militant gets life in attack that killed child

JAKARTA, Indonesia – An Indonesian court on Monday sentenced an Islamic State group sympathizer to life imprisonment for an attack on a church that killed a 2-year-old girl and injured three other children.

The attacker, Juhanda, who uses one name, was captured by locals after throwing a Molotov cocktail at Oikumene Church in Samarinda, the provincial capital of East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, in November last year.

Two-year-old Ade Intan Marbun died from her burns.

Juhanda was previously convicted in 2011 for terrorism offences but released in July 2014.

Presiding Judge Surung Simanjuntak at the East Jakarta District Court said there was no reason for leniency because of the defendant’s lack of remorse and previous conviction.

“The defendant deliberately attacked the church, although he knew that there were many children in the churchyard,” he said.

In a separate trial, Simanjuntak also sentenced four co-conspirators — Supriyadi, Ahmad Dani, Rahmad and Joko Sugito — to prison terms ranging from six to seven years.

All of the five had pledged allegiance to Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and promised to carry out amaliyah, an Arabic term that is a byword for suicide bombing in militant circles, Simanjuntak said.