A panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court, however, sentenced Al-Khelaiw Ali Abdullah to 18 months in prison for violating immigration laws. They said the 55-year-old, who had been running an Internet, entered the country several times since 2008 and ran business without a proper visa. The July 17, 2009, attacks on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Indonesia ended a four-year lull in bombings blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked network, Jemaah Islamiah and its affiliates. Together, over 260 people died, many of them foreigners.

Abdullah was accused of lending money to Syaefudin Zuhri, one of the alleged masterminds of last year’s hotel attacks, after meeting him and a man who later turned out to be one of the suicide bombers at the airport in Jakarta. Zuhri, who was killed by anti-terror police during a raid in October, helped the Saudi by sponsoring his six-month visa.

“From evidence presented at the trial, the panel concluded the defendant knew nothing about Zuhri’s background,” said presiding judge Ida Bagus Dwiyantara. “Therefore he was proven not guilty of the main charges (terrorism).”

After the verdict was read out, Abdullah shook hands with the judges, prostrated himself in the courtroom and said: “Praise be to God! I thank the court for viewing this matter in a clear and fair manner. I am happy.”

The same court earlier sentenced five militants to up to eight years in jail in connection with the bombings.