Islamic Teacher Sentenced for Aussie Embassy Blast

(Jakarta, Indonesia) A tribunal sentenced 23-year-old Islamic teacher Abdul Fatah, aka Seri Sigu (Sigor) and Heri Segu, to seven years in prison for his part in the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in September 2004 which killed ten people and the suicide bomber. Fatah was convicted of helping plan the attack and constructing the bomb. Leaving the court, Fatah shouted that his sentence was contrary to God's law and that God was higher than the court's decision.

Fatah was recruited in East Java and trained in bomb-making by the Malaysian Jemaah Islamiah leader, Azahari Husin. Azahari, along with Noordin Mohammad Top, masterminded the Australian Embassy attack and also the Bali and Marriott Hotel bombings. Both Azahari and Top are still at large.

Six terrorists were arrested in the embassy bombing and Fatah is the third to be convicted and sentenced. The sentences handed out were three and one-half years, four and one-half years, and Fatah's seven years which indicate that Indonesian courts do not treat terrorists harshly. Surely, all three thugs will return to the streets to commit more acts of terrorism. Understandably, the lenient sentences will not blunt criticism of the Indonesian judicial system.