Indonesia sentences six terrorists to death for 2018 prison riot

Five police officers were tortured and killed and one inmate shot dead during the unrest at the detention centre run by the police Mobile Brigade in Depok

Sentencing could trigger revenge attacks from Islamic State sympathisers, experts warn

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A police officer stands guard outside the Mobile Police Brigade headquarters. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:20pm, 23 Apr 2021Updated: 8:22pm, 24 Apr 2021

An Indonesian court has sentenced six terrorists to death for their role in a 2018 prison riot in which five police officers were brutally killed and one inmate shot dead.

The six defendants – Wawan Kurniawan, 45, Syawaludin Pakpahan, 46, Anang Rahman, 55, Handoko, 36, Suyanto, 44, and Suparman, 38 – were sentenced in an online session by the East Jakarta District Court on Wednesday evening. The men are all linked to pro-Islamic State (Isis) militant groups.

“All six men have been sentenced to death,” said Faris, a lawyer for one of the convicted men.

All six were found guilty of planning and carrying out a riot at the prison run by the police Mobile Brigade in Depok, south of Jakarta, on May 8, 2018. Isis later claimed its fighters were behind the fight with police in the prison.

The riot lasted some 36 hours and involved more than 150 prisoners.

Policemen inside the Mobile Brigade headquarters after the hostage crisis in Depok in 2018. Photo: Reuters

Prosecutors said the defendants started meeting in January 2018 to plan “a terrorist attack” in the prison where they were being detained or serving sentences for terrorism-related offenses. They discussed making crude weapons including sharpened steel shivs.