Indonesian court outlaws Islamic State-linked group

An Indonesian court today outlawed Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, a network of militants that supports the Islamic State group, following a series of deadly attacks over the past two years.

Presiding Judge Aris Bawono Langgeng told the South Jakarta District Court that the network of almost two dozen extremist groups is a "forbidden corporation." He said its activities and those of other organizations affiliated with it or IS are banned.

The case against Jemaah Anshorut Daulah was brought by government prosecutors and appeared aimed at empowering stronger police action against militant members of the network and their supporters.

In 2008, a court banned Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaida affiliated network responsible for the Bali bombings in 2002. The group was obliterated by a sustained crackdown on militants by Indonesia's counterterrorism police with U.S. and Australian support, but a new threat has emerged in recent years inspired by IS attacks abroad.

The prosecution indictment filed against the IS-linked group said JAD supporters across Indonesia carried out attacks that killed civilians and police and damaged public facilities.

In May, two families carried out suicide bombings in Indonesia's second-largest city, Surabaya, killing a dozen people and two young girls whose parents had involved them in one of the attacks. Police said the father was the head of a local JAD cell.

A radical cleric who founded JAD, Aman Abdurrahman, was sentenced to death last month for inciting attacks including a 2016 suicide bombing at a Starbucks in Jakarta.