Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Nine Months for Ahmadi Found Guilty of Stabbing

Jakarta Globe, Indonesia
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Nine Months for Ahmadi Found Guilty of Stabbing
Vento Saudale | April 19, 2011

Ahmad Nuryamin
Ahmad Nuryamin
Bogor. An Ahmadi man was sentenced to nine months in jail on Monday for stabbing a teenager following an attack by hundreds of hard-line Muslims on an Ahmadiyah community in Cisalada, Bogor district, in October.

Ahmad Nuryamin, 30, was found guilty of stabbing 15-year-old Rendy Apriansyah, from the neighboring village of Pasar Salasa, during the commotion following a mob attack on the Cisalada Ahmadiyah community on Oct. 1, said Eddy Wibisono, the head of the panel of judges.

Eddy said witnesses, including the victim himself, had identified the defendant as the man who carried out the stabbing.

Eddy also said the panel of judges took into consideration the fact that “before the stabbing, the Ahmadiyah complex was set on fire.”

Ahmad was charged with violating an article of the penal code on abuse and a 1951 emergency law on possession and use of a pointed weapon. The charges carry up to five years in jail

Eddy said that Ahmad was only found guilty of the penal code violation.

Both the defendant’s lawyer, Nurkholis Hidayat, and the prosecutor, Nuraini, said they needed time to decide whether to lodge an appeal against the verdict.

Nurkholis, who is from the Jakarta Institute of Legal Aid, said the judges had ignored the background to the stabbing.

“It is true that in the hearing, Yamin [Ahmad] admitted that he had stabbed someone, but the judges ignored testimonies that said there was an attack that prompted the stabbing,” he said.

He said the defense counsel might appeal, arguing that the stabbing was an act of self-defence in the face of an attack, but lawyers would first discuss the matter with the defendant and his family.

Meanwhile, Ahmad said he accepted the verdict.

“I accept it, but will leave it entirely in the hands of my lawyer,” he said.

A court in Cibinong district last week sentenced three of those who attacked Ahmadiyah followers to terms of between four and six months.

The attack in Cisalada, home to about 600 followers of Ahmadiyah, also targeted homes and schools of the group, which has come under increasing attack by Islamic hard-liners in Bogor and other parts of West Java.

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