Singaporean terrorist gets 18 years in jail

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A Southeast Asian terrorist who admitted to meeting Osama bin Laden many times was sentenced to 18 years in jail Tuesday for killing an Indonesian teacher and plotting an attack on a bar frequented by non-Muslims.

Mohammad Hasan bin Saynudin, a 36-year-old Singaporean, was defiant as he was led into the South Jakarta District Court, saying he was proud of his actions and ready for whatever punishment was handed down.

“You can throw me in jail,” he said. “But my son will just follow in my path.”

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks in recent years blamed on Southeast Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiyah — formerly funded by al-Qaida. More than 240 people have been killed, many of them foreign tourists.

Saynudin — arrested with nine other Islamic militants and a cache of weapons on Sumatra island in July 2008 — admitted to many crimes during his trial, including helping mastermind a foiled plot to hijack a Russian Aeroflot plane and crash it into the terminal at Singapore’s international airport in 2001.

However, the case that wrapped up Tuesday focused only on crimes committed in Indonesia.

Judge Haswandi said Saynudin was guilty of orchestrating the fatal shooting of a teacher in front of the man’s 9-year-old son in 2007 and trying to kill two Catholic priests in 2005. He was also found guilty of planning an attack on a bar on Sumatra that was called off at the last minute — apparently after the men realized it might unintentionally kill Muslims.

Saynudin violated the country’s anti-terrorism laws and possession of illegal weapons, Haswandi said, in handing down the sentence.

The Singaporean told reporters he considered himself a “Muslim hero.”

“I met Osama bin Laden countless times,” he said, calling the al-Qaida chief “the savior of the Muslim world.”