Tensions are rising ahead of the verdict Indonesia has jailed radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir for 15 years, after he was convicted of supporting an Islamic militant training camp in Aceh.
The sentence was handed down amid tight security at court in Jakarta, where more than 3,000 police were on duty.Ba'asyir, 72, was convicted of helping to organise and fund a jihadi training camp in Aceh province.
He denied involvement with the training camp but has repeatedly defended it as legal under Islam.
The cleric has been involved in radical Islamic groups in Indonesia for four decades.
Over the years, he has been repeatedly arrested, jailed and then released.
Prosecutors had asked for a life sentence for Ba'asyir, but the sentence is the longest he has yet received.
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He needs no introduction to Indonesians - he is a familiar face here.
He is believed to be the spiritual influence behind radical Islamic groups in the country.
He has faced terrorism charges before. In fact, this is the third time he has been on trial for his alleged participation in extremist activities.
This time prosecutors say Ba'asyir is responsible for helping to raise funds for a jihadi training camp in Aceh which was discovered last year.
The police aren't taking any chances and have deployed 3,000 officers at the court, as well as stepping up security around police headquarters. Whatever verdict he gets, they say they want to be prepared.
At the court
Supporters of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir arrived at the courthouse in south Jakarta hours before the judges began reading out the verdict on the 72-year-old preacher.He needs no introduction to Indonesians - he is a familiar face here.
He is believed to be the spiritual influence behind radical Islamic groups in the country.
He has faced terrorism charges before. In fact, this is the third time he has been on trial for his alleged participation in extremist activities.
This time prosecutors say Ba'asyir is responsible for helping to raise funds for a jihadi training camp in Aceh which was discovered last year.
The police aren't taking any chances and have deployed 3,000 officers at the court, as well as stepping up security around police headquarters. Whatever verdict he gets, they say they want to be prepared.
He was arrested by anti-terror police last August, months after the training camp in Aceh was raided by police.
The discovery of the camp has so far led to the arrests of more than 120 terrorism suspects over several months. Experts believe the Aceh group was planning to form a militia to attack government targets directly and eventually impose an Islamic state.
Ba'asyir has repeatedly said the allegations against him were "engineered by America".
In previous cases, he has been convicted of conspiracy over the 2002 Bali bomb attacks, in which more than 200 people died.
But he was freed in 2006 after his sentence was cut, and his conviction was eventually quashed on appeal.
Most analysts agree that he has been the spiritual leader of the military jihadi network Jemaah Islamiah for a number of years.
But he was cleared of involvement with the group after a trial in 2003.
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