Jailed Indonesian denies foreigner plot
Lauren Farrow - AAP on October 4, 2016, 7:23 am
A jailed Indonesian man has denied he planned to attack foreigners or Jakarta s governor.
An Indonesian man, who has been jailed for six years over a series of failed Islamic State-backed terror plots, denies he planned to attack foreigners or the Jakarta governor.
Arif Hidayatullah, 31, turned to reporters and smiled after he was sentenced to six years in prison on Monday following a series of foiled plans to launch attacks across the archipelago at the behest of former schoolmate - IS militant Bahrun Naim.
He is the latest of several would-be militants who have died in suicide attacks or ended up in prison as a result of their involvement with Bahrun over the past 12 months.
According to police, Bahrun transferred more than 13.5 million rupiah ($A1300) from Syria to Arif with instructions to carry out acts of 'ightiyalat' - or assassinations.
The targets were Jakarta's governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama - known as Ahok - as well as high-ranking police and foreigners, East Jakarta District Court heard.
Using the online messaging service Telegram, Bahrun told Arif in September 2015 to make small explosives to "throw" at Ahok the following month in Jakarta.
The plan was cancelled because the bombs weren't ready.
The following month, Bahrun sent another message to Arif to throw bombs at a site affiliated with a Jewish group, as well as a Shia mosque in Bogor, south of Jakarta in December last year.
Arif bought five litres of hydrogen peroxide and two litres of acetone but was arrested before it was carried out.
Judge Siti Djamzanah sentenced him to six years on Monday, saying he was still young and had not been in trouble before.
Speaking to reporters after the judgement, Arif said there were many "oddities" in the prosecution case and "rejected" the accusations he planned to attack Ahok and foreigners.
According to a recent report by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, Bahrun stayed in touch with his friends from Solo, Central Java when he went to Syria in January 2015.
Bahrun has allegedly tried to establish a network people in explosives - providing instructions over the internet on bomb-making, money laundering and how to make online purchases using stolen credit card numbers.
He was linked to a thwarted rocket attack on Singapore from neighbouring Batam Island earlier this year.
