2 Senior Leaders of Jamaah Islamiah Sentenced to 15 Years

Jamaah Islamiah's two most senior leaders have both received 15 year jail sentences for helping terrorists, moving around firearms and possesing weapons. Now hopefully their jail sentences are not reduced later on. BBC

Two senior leaders of Indonesia's most notorious militant group, Jemaah Islamiah (JI), have received 15-year jail terms for terror-related offences.

Abu Dujana and Zarkasih were each convicted of violating anti-terror laws after a lengthy trial in Jakarta.

They were found guilty of helping terrorists and possessing, storing and moving firearms and ammunition.

JI is accused of carrying out a string of attacks in South East Asia, including the 2002 Bali bombings.

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Abu Dujana is thought to have trained in Afghanistan and to have close links to al-Qaeda.

On sentencing him, Judge Wahjono, at the South Jakarta District Court, said he had been "proven legally and convincingly of having engaged in the crime of terrorism".

The judge also ruled that JI was a terrorist organisation - the first such ruling by an Indonesian court.

Prosecutors had asked for life sentences for both men, but the judge said they had co-operated with investigators and spoken out against violence, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Jakarta.

Indonesia has a policy of using former militants to help persuade those still within radical networks to defect, our correspondent adds.

The 35-page indictment against Abu Dujana accused him of authorising shipments of explosives to attack Christians in Poso in central Sulawesi, an area fraught by inter-religious tensions.