More on Katibah Nusantara: Military Unit Under ISIS Linked

to Jakarta Attack

At least two civilians were killed in the attacks, the authorities said, along with five
assailants. Weapons used by some of the attackers in front of a shopping mall in
Jakarta.Credit European Pressphoto Agency
The ringleader of the group accused of carrying out Thursdays attack has been identified
by the chief of the Jakarta Provincial Police as Bahrun Naim, a leader of the militant group
Katibah Nusantara.
Katibah Nusantara is a dedicated Southeast Asian military unit under the Islamic State
that represents a direct security threat to the region.
The establishment of Katibah Nusantara with Malay-speaking jihadists from Indonesia,
Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia is similar to the recruitment of Indonesian and
Malaysian veterans of the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s
to join Jemaah Islamiyah, but on a grander scale, according to the paper.
In April 2015, fighters with Katibah Nusantara captured territory held by Kurdish forces in
Syria, a boon for its efforts to recruit new fighters and supporters among Malay speakers in
Southeast Asia.
The growing reach of Katibah Nusantara could lead to its expanding influence in Islamic
States decision-making process, in turn leading I.S. giving greater priority to Southeast
Asia as its war zone, according to the paper.

Indonesia's Ex- Top Judge Gets Life for

Corruption

Jakarta: An anti-graft court has sentenced Indonesia's former top judge to life
imprisonment for corruption and money laundering.
Akil Mochtar was chief of the Constitutional Court when the Corruption Eradication
Commission captured him red-handed last October for accepting bribes to fix the results of
two local elections.
In a verdict handed down late on Monday, a five-member panel at the anti-corruption court
found him guilty of receiving bribes of more than $3.37 million in relation to disputes in
elections for district and provincial chiefs.
It was revealed during the trial that Mochtar had received bribes to fix results of at least 10
local elections. Presiding judge Suwidya said there was no reason to reject the maximum
life sentence sought by prosecutors, since the defendant's deeds tarnished the image of the
Constitutional Court as the highest state institution.
The panel rejected the prosecutors' demand that the defendant pay a fine of $840,000,
saying it had handed down the maximum penalty for the crime.
"As chief of the highest institution, the last bastion for justice seekers, the defendant should
act as a good example," said Suwidya, who uses a single name like many Indonesians.
"The defendant's acts undermined the court's image."
The court also found him guilty of laundering more than $15.2 million from 2002, when he
was a legislator with the Golkar party, until his arrest in October 2013.
He was elected as a judge in 2008 and became the chief judge in April last year. Mochtar,

53, said he would appeal the verdict, which he described as unfair. Endemic graft in
Indonesia has been blamed for deterring foreign investment.

Indonesia Plane Crash Kills 1, Injures 5

Representational Image.
Jayapura, Indonesia: A small passenger plane crashed today in Indonesia's easternmost
province of Papua as it tried to land, killing one person and seriously injuring five, a rescue
official said.
The Cessna propeller plane operated by Indonesian company Komala Air crashed on the
runway of Ninia airport in Yahukimo district, local official Ludiatno told AFP.
There were six people on the plane when it went down. A technician was killed, while the
pilot and the four passengers suffered serious injuries, including broken bones. The injured
have been taken to hospital.
Ludiatno, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said bad weather was thought to
have caused the crash. An AFP journalist in Papua said there were strong winds when the
accident happened.
The plane was flying from the town of Wamena in Papua.
Light aircraft are commonly used for transport in remote, mountainous Papua, and bad
weather has caused several accidents in recent years.

Father of Indonesian Woman Murdered in Hong Kong Urges Death for the Accused
Cilacap, Indonesia: The father of a young Indonesian woman murdered in Hong Kong
called on Tuesday for her "sadistic" killer to be put to death, a day after a British banker
appeared in court accused of killing her and a second woman.
The mutilated and decomposing body of Sumarti Ningsih, in her 20s, was found on
Saturday in a suitcase on the balcony of Rurik Jutting's upmarket apartment in the southern
Chinese city.
Jutting, a 29-year-old securities trader, who until recently worked at Bank of America
Merrill Lynch, had called police to his home in Wanchai district in the early hours of
Saturday.
Investigators found a naked woman with knife wounds to her neck and buttocks in the
living room of the flat, on the 31st floor of a plush residential block.
Ningsih's body was discovered hours later as police searched the apartment court
documents state that she was killed on October 27. Her father spoke to AFP of his shock
and anger at his daughter's death.
"I want the murderer of my child to be sentenced to death. He killed her, sadistically, so he
must be put to death," said Ahmad Kaliman, 58, speaking to AFP in Cilacap, a port town
on the south coast of Java.
Hong Kong does not impose the death penalty. "I also plead for the governments of
Indonesia and Hong Kong to return our child's body as soon as possible. I want her to be
buried in Indonesia," he added.
He said the family had been informed by one of their daughter's acquaintances in Hong
Kong that she had been killed.
"We were informed by telephone that our daughter was murdered. I was very shocked,
especially when I was informed that it was hard to identify the body," he said.
Police reportedly believe the victims were sex workers, but Ningsih's father had told her
parents she was working in a restaurant in Hong Kong. Consulate officials said Ningsih
had come to Hong Kong on September 1 and overstayed her one-month tourist visa.
Kaliman said his daughter had first gone to Hong Kong in 2011 to work as a domestic
helper, before returning to Indonesia in 2013. She had returned to Hong Kong on two
occasions since then.
The Indonesian consulate confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that the other victim found in the
apartment was Seneng Mujiasih, 29 who went by the name Jesse Lorena and was also
Indonesian. She had been working as a domestic helper, the consulate said, but her
employment visa had run out in 2012. Jutting appeared in court for the first time on
Monday, when he was charged and remanded in custody.