An Indonesian court jailed 17 men for up to five months Thursday for burning churches and attacking police, one of the worst religious hate crime cases to have hit the mainly Muslim country.A 1,500-strong mob of angry Muslims set two churches alight and ransacked a third in the Central Java town of Temanggung in February as they demanded that a Christian man be sentenced to death for insulting Islam.
The incident began when mayhem erupted inside a court and spilled into the streets, where protesters set a police vehicle ablaze and threw stones at officers, who responded with tear gas and warning shots.
Four panels of judges at Semarang district court convicted a total of 17 Muslims in connection with the violence, sentencing 16 of them to five months in jail and the last to four months.
"They are legally and convincingly proven guilty in destroying public properties and carrying out assault," one of the judges said.
The terms were lighter than the 10 months sought by prosecutors as the convicts had been co-operative during the trial, he added.
One of those convicted, Supriyanto, was found guilty of sending text messages to several people a day before the Christian's trial, on the orders of a local Muslim cleric.
"Based on evidence and witnesses' testimonies, Supriyanto incited people to take part in the attack in Temanggung," another judge said.
Nine more defendants, including the cleric said to be the "mastermind" behind the attack, will hear their verdicts next week.
Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion but rights groups say violence against minorities including Christians and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect has been escalating since 2008.
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