Indonesian convicted of following Al-Qaida affiliate

A local court on Friday delivered an eight-month jail term to an illegal Indonesian immigrant, suspected of following a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaida.

The Seoul Central District Court, however, suspended the sentence for the 33-year-old, whose identity was withheld, for two years. He was convicted of violating South Korea's control of firearms, swords, explosives and miscellaneous weapons act.

The man was arrested in November in South Chungcheong Province, where he had been working in a small manufacturing company for about eight years.

A bowie knife, a mock M4 assault rifle and a number of books on Islamic fundamentalism were confiscated from his house.

While acknowledging that the 33-year-old posed a threat to public safety by illegally possessing a weapon and a mock gun that can be used in criminal activity, the court said it took into consideration that he did not have any criminal records.

He was also found to have uploaded a video clip of himself waving the al-Nusra Front flag at a local mountain on social media in April last year and also wrote that he would participate in the Syrian war and become a martyr.

No charges were filed against him for either writing messages or posting photos on social media. (Yonhap)