An Indonesian court sentenced two football match officials on Thursday over a stadium crush that killed 135 people in October.
Match organiser Abdul Haris was found guilty of negligence and sentenced to 18 months in prison by a panel of three judges at Surabaya District Court.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of six years and eight months.
"I am sentencing the defendant to a year and a half in prison," presiding judge Abu Achmad Sidqi Amsya told the court in Surabaya, the capital of East Java.
Security official Suko Sutrisno was also found guilty of negligence and sentenced to one year in prison.
"The defendant did not anticipate the chaos because there has never been an emergency situation before. The defendant also did not understand his job as a security official well," the judge said.
He said neither man had verified the safety of the stadium since 2020 and “did not prepare an emergency plan”.
Both men have seven days to appeal the verdict.
It is Indonesia's first ruling on the incident, which happened when thousands of fans invaded the pitch at the match between hosts Arema FC and rivals Persebaya Surabaya at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Kepanjen on October 1.
Police fired teargas to try to stop violence, leading to a crush of panicked fans running for exits.
It was one of the worst stadium disasters in the sport's history.
Three police officers have also been charged over the incident and are awaiting verdicts.
Authorities in Surabaya sent 360 police officers to secure the court for the verdict on Thursday.
The former director of the company that runs the Indonesian Premier League remains under police investigation.
Police described the pitch invasion as a "riot" and said two officers were killed, but survivors accused the police of using excessive force.
Witnesses said officers beat them with sticks and shields before shooting teargas canisters into crowds.
The match was attended only by Arema fans, as organisers had banned Persebaya supporters because of Indonesia’s history of football rivalries turning violent.
An investigation set up by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in response to a national outcry over the deaths concluded that the teargas was the main cause of the crowd surge.
It said police on duty had no knowledge that the use of teargas was prohibited at football stadiums and used it “indiscriminately” on the field, in the stands and outside, causing the more than 42,000 spectators inside the 36,000-seat stadium to rush to the exits — several of which were locked.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
RESULTS - ELITE MEN
1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:03
2. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:09
3. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:25
4. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:34
5. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:40
6. Joao Silva (POR) 57:45
7. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:56
8. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:57
9. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:58
10. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59
More on animal trafficking
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
The years Ramadan fell in May
New schools in Dubai
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
