Jakarta - An Indonesian district court on Monday sentenced three Muslim militants to up to nine years in prison after they were convicted of assisting and hiding leaders of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network.

The Central Jakarta District Court found Abu Husna, Agus Purwanto and Parmin guilty of violating the country's tough anti-terrorism laws, enacted just weeks after the October 2002 bombings of two nightspots on Bali island which killed at least 202 people, mostly foreign visitors.

Chief Judge H Makmun said Husna, Purwanto and Parmin were guilty of helping terrorist suspects, including self-proclaimed leaders Abu Dujana and Zarkasi, to evade police.

Abu Dujana and Zarkasi were jailed for 15 years in April for assisting terrorists and possessing, storing and moving weapons destined for use in terrorist acts.

Abu Husna was sentenced up to nine years in jail, while Agus Purwanto and Parmin were jailed up to eight years each, reported detik. com online news portal.

In previous court hearings, government prosecutors sought jail terms of up to 14 years for the three militants, who were also charged with training fighters and assisting leaders of the JI terrorist network.

Prosecutors also accused Husna of failing to inform the police about meetings with Abu Dujana and Zarkasi in Yogyakarta.

The court said Parmin, alias Yaser Baara, had been found legally and convincingly guilty of intentionally helping to hide bomb-maker Noordin M Top, who is still at large.

Counter-terrorism police are still on a nationwide manhunt for the Malaysian bomb-maker Noordin, who leads a breakaway faction of JI and is believed to be the mastermind behind all the major terrorist bombings in Indonesia since 2000.

Purwanto allegedly funnelled proceeds from the sale of stolen gold jewellery to Abu Dujana and provided information on clashes between Muslims and Christians in Poso, Sulawesi, in 2000 and 2001. (dpa)