Indonesia jails soldier for people-smuggling

MADIUN (AFP) - A sergeant on Monday became the first Indonesian soldier to be convicted of people-smuggling as Jakarta tries to stem the flow of asylum seekers travelling via the country to Australia.

Separately, prosecutors demanded prison terms of seven to eight years for four military officers if found guilty in the same case, when an asylum-seeker boat capsized en route to Australia, killing over 200 people.

Indonesia's parliament in April last year passed a long-awaited law criminalising people-smuggling.

Second Sergeant Ilmun Abdul Said had been "proven legally and convincingly guilty for helping to smuggle hundreds of illegal migrants out of Indonesia", chief judge Muhammad Afandi told the Madiun district military court in East Java province.