Indonesia bans JAD, local IS-affiliated group behind suicide attacks
JAD is a US-listed terror organisation with thousands of followers in Indonesia
An Indonesian court on Tuesday banned a local extremist network responsible for a series of deadly terror attacks on home soil, significantly expanding police powers to charge members and freeze funding.
Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS), was involved in a deadly 2016 Jakarta attack and a wave of suicide bombings in May in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya, according to authorities.
Two families – including girls aged nine and 12 – blew themselves up at churches and a police station, killing 13.
“Herewith we declare [JAD] a forbidden organisation,” lead judge Aris Bawono Langgeng said at South Jakarta District Court.
Indonesia has banned just one other radical Islamic group, Jemaah Islamiah, in 2008 because it was found guilty of committing terrorist acts.
