JAKARTA: Alleged Islamist extremists from a group dubbed "Al-Qaeda in Aceh" went on trial Thursday accused of plotting to kill Westerners including US aid workers and tourists.
More than 20 suspects were scheduled to answer charges including carrying out acts that caused "terror or fear", possessing illegal firearms, providing money and sanctuary to terrorists and participating in militant training.
If convicted they could face between three years in jail and death.
They were the first suspects to appear in court out of more than 100 people detained after the discovery of a militant training camp in Aceh province, Sumatra, in February. Some 66 remain in custody pending trial.
The camp allegedly gathered militants from various regional groups, including some with links to Al-Qaeda, under the leadership of Indonesian terror mastermind Dulmatin who was killed by police in March.
They undertook religious indoctrination and military training with the intention of driving Westerners and Christians out of Aceh, prosecutors said.
The targets included American civilians and aid workers, churches, tourists and Western non-government organisations, prosecutor Firmansyah said in documents submitted to the court.
"If they couldn’t go to Palestine they would fight Americans and their allies in Indonesia, especially Americans in Aceh," he said.
Supporters of the defendants shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greater) in the courtroom during the hearings.
One of the group’s chief ideologues, Aman Abdurrahman, 38, is facing the death penalty for allegedly possessing firearms, financing the group and recruiting members.
Firmansyah told a Jakarta court that Abdurrahman — who was arrested in 2004 over a bomb-making cell and released from jail in 2008 — had met Dulmatin and helped him find accommodation. Dulmatin is considered one of the masterminds of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing.
"His motivation was that (he believed) getting ready for militant training in order to confront the enemy is a responsibility of Muslims," Firmansyah said.
Abdurrahman conducted religious study sessions and laid plans with other terrorists during his time behind bars, according to independent analysts.
Speaking to reporters from his cell after Thursday’s hearings, he said militant training was "not a crime but an obligation" to protect Muslims in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
Another suspect, Muktar, 28, is also facing death on charges of illegally possessing firearms and "carrying out acts of violence which caused widespread fear", prosecutor Kiki Ahmad Yani said.
Muktar shot and wounded a German aid worker in Aceh last year, threw grenades at a UN office in the provincial capital and shot at the rented house of two US student teachers there, he added.
Aceh is a deeply religious province on the northern tip of Sumatra which was hit by a devastating tsunami in 2004 and was rebuilt with international aid.
