JAKARTA: A radical Indo­nesian cleric was sentenced to death on Friday for masterminding a 2016 terror attack that saw a suicide bomber blow himself up at a Starbucks cafe.

Aman Abdurrahman was found guilty of ordering the attack that killed four in Jakarta, as heavily armed police guarded his sentencing at at court in the capital.

It was the first attack claimed by the international terror network of the militant Islamic State group in Southeast Asia.

“(The defendant) has been proven to have committed a criminal act of terrorism,” said judge Akhmad Jaini, who also cited Abdurrahman’s involvement in other deadly plots. “He will be sentenced to death.”

Abdurrahman — who was already in jail on a separate terror conviction — gestured to his legal team and briefly kissed the floor, as machine gun-toting guards stood nearby.

His lawyer, Asludin Hatjani, said the ruling was “unfair”, citing a lack of evidence connecting Abdurrahman to the attack, which he was accused of organising from inside prison.

Executions are carried out by firing squad in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, which has long struggled with Islamist militancy.

In 2002, bombings at the re­­sort island of Bali killed over 200 — mostly foreign tourists — in Indo­nesia’s worst-ever terror att­a­­­­­ck. Three militants involved in the Bali bombing have since been exe­­cuted. The assault in the capital two years ago saw sec­u­rity for­ces battle radicals near the cafe where a suicide bomber detona­ted his explosives.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2018