Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman and Indonesian teacher's aide Ferdinant Tjiong were sentenced to 10 years in prison for sodomising the boys at the Jakarta Intercultural School between January 2013 and March 2014.

The school community insists the men, who have been in custody since July last year, are innocent.

On internet forums, several foreigners said they were planning to leave Indonesia because of the sentence, and some warned any expatriates working with children to do the same.

Bantleman, 45, said he would appeal the sentence.

"Today is a miscarriage of justice," Bantleman said immediately after his verdict."We will continue to fight until the truth comes out."

The men's supporters, who packed the South Jakarta district court wearing white, screamed and cheered when Bantleman announced his appeal.

The defence had argued there was no physical or forensic evidence the molestation occurred and the case was engineered by the children's parents, one of whom has sued the school for $US125 million ($165.73 million).

The case has attracted intense international scrutiny because the Jakarta Intercultural School is attended by the children of diplomats, expats and wealthy Indonesians.

US ambassador Robert Blake said serious questions had arisen in the case regarding the investigative process and lack of credible evidence against the teachers.

"In light of this, we are deeply disappointed with this outcome," he said in a statement.

"The outcome of the legal process and what it reveals about the rule of law in Indonesia will have a significant impact on Indonesia's reputation abroad."

A prosecution witness, "sexologist" Dr Naek L. Tobing gave evidence Bantleman only had sex with his wife once a week, when the "norm" was every day or two to three times a week. As he also did not masturbate he would be seeking sexual outlets, he claimed.

He also did not masturbate according to the well-known Indonesian sexologist.

"There is a question how could he release his sexual desire," said Chief Judge Nur Aslam Bustaman. "These conditions could create abnormal sexual behaviour."

It was alleged that Bantleman sexually abused the boys in a room on the second floor of the administration building, and a nearby kitchen.

Bantleman was said to have inserted a "magic stone" into the anus of one of the boys to anaesthetise him before he was raped.

Due to the influence of the magic stone, the child said he felt numb from his bottom to the back of his thighs but still had the sensation of something being inserted into his anus.

An Australian expert, provided by the defence, said the children had been asked suggestive questions when questioned about the sexual abuse which could have given them false memories.

Bantleman's lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said the rape claims were "all about money".

He said one of the victims had been examined at a Singapore hospital, where he was found not to have been sodomised.

"So (the mother) went shopping again to find any hospital who wanted to confirm the sodomy act. Unfortunately it was the Bhayangkara hospital (police hospital) who then confirmed that there was proof of sodomy," he said after the verdict.

Tjiong was said to have separately raped the same three boys in toilets on the school campus.

In December five cleaners at the school received sentences of up to eight years in prison for sexually abusing a boy at the school. The boy also claimed to have been abused by Bantleman and Tijong.

The cleaners originally confessed but later recanted, saying they had been tortured by police. One of them died in police custody during questioning — the police say from suicide.

Tracy Bantleman said her husband and Tijong were victims of a "malicious make-believe story with a multi-million dollar price tag".

"The allegations against my husband are ridiculous and absurd," she said. "The parents have alleged that their children were drugged and abused up to twenty times and sometimes up to six times in one school day. It is impossible that this could occur in any school, anywhere, without someone noticing, including the parents of the children."

With Karuni Rompies