JAKARTA - The top leader of South-east Asian terror group, Jemaah Islamiah , was sentenced to seven years jail on Monday by an Indonesian court for inciting others to commit an act of terrorism.Prosecutors said he was instrumental in recruiting, training and raising funds for Indonesian militants who went to Syria between 2012 and 2018 to fight alongside those opposed to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
The JI network - which is affiliated to terror group Al-Qaeda - was behind the most deadly terror attack in the country with the Bali bombings in 2002 which killed more than 200 people, many of whom were foreigners. The objective, said prosecutors, was for those militants to eventually return to Indonesia and use their battle experience to establish an Islamic state at home.
Police believe the JI has been reconstituted and are calling it"Neo-JI" as it goes about recruiting members to achieve its aim of setting up a caliphate in Indonesia, former police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said in 2019.