Jakarta - Indonesia said Friday that it would deport 193 Rohingya boat people but was seeking assurances from Myanmar and Bangladesh that they would not be harmed when returned.

The Muslim Rohingyas, who were rescued January 7 from the sea off Aceh province, have pleaded to the Indonesian government not to send them back, saying they faced persecution in Myanmar.

Jakarta - Four former deputy governors of Bank Indonesia, including an in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, went on trial on Friday for their alleged role in a multi-million-dollar embezzlement case that has embroiled the central bank.

Prosecutors accused the four defendants - Aulia Pohan, Bunbunan Hutapea, Maman Sumantri and Aslim Tadjuddin - of misusing 100 billion rupiah (8.8 million dollars) from a foundation run by Bank Indonesia in 2003.

Jakarta - A man who led an Islamic religious sect whose rituals include having group sex turned himself in Thursday, police in Jakarta said.

Police launched an investigation after a woman complained that she was sexually assaulted in a religious ritual led by Agus Noro, who claims to be a messiah and God incarnate.

Agus surrendered to police and would be charged with sexual indecency, said Jakarta police spokesman Zulkarnaen, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name.

Jakarta  - Two mechanics were killed by rotor blades on Thursday when the helicopter they were servicing tilted on its side, an transport ministry official said.

The pilot and mechanics were making last-minute checks on the aircraft before take-off when the accident happened at a military airport about 30 kilometres southwest of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, said transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan.

The spinning blades killed the two mechanics instantly while the pilot and another technician in the cockpit were injured, he said

Jakarta - An Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced a legislator from the party of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to four-a-half years in prison for accepting bribes.

The anti-corruption court in Jakarta found Sarjan Taher, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party, guilty of accepting 5 billion rupiah (440,000 dollars) in bribe money from a provincial government.

The money was intended to influence lawmakers to approve a project to convert a mangrove forest into a seaport in South Sumatra province, the court said.

Jakarta - A couple of wild elephants went on a rampage in Indonesia's north-western province of Aceh, killing two people and injuring three others after destroying a hut, police and media reports said Wednesday.

The animals entered Kupula village in Sumatra's northern Aceh district of Pidie Tuesday morning, and trampled a hut where seven women chili farmers were eating breakfast.

Pidie district police chief Mufan Mujikawati said the women fled the hut but two of them were later trampled to death by the angry elephants.