The Jakarta Post, 9/14/2006 4:12:52 PM
Anif gets 15 years in prison for 2005 Bali bombings
DENPASAR (AP): An Islamic militant showed no remorse Thursday after being
sentenced to 15 years in prison for the 2005 Bali bombings that left 20 dead, vowing
to take part in new suicide missions after he was freed.
Anif Solchanudin - one of four men convicted in the attacks on three crowded
restaurants - was charged with helping plan the bombings and hiding one of
Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspects.
Judge Daniel Palipin said the Denpasar District Court decided to hand down a 15-year
sentence, five years more than prosecutors demanded, because the 24-year-old
militant had also offered to be a suicide bomber for the Oct. 1, 2005 attacks.
Anif, wearing a grey traditional Muslim shirt, told reporters after the ruling that he still
intended to seek death as a martyr once he was freed. He said he had no plans to
appeal.
Indonesia has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks blamed on members of the
al-Qaida linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah in recent years, including the Oct. 1,
2005 bombings on Bali.
The three other men who stood trial in those attacks were sentenced to between eight
and 18 years in jail - all for helping hide alleged mastermind Noordin Top, transport
explosives, or setting up a Web site giving tips on how to kill foreigners.
Indonesia, which has more Muslims than any other nation, has arrested or convicted
more than 150 militants since 2002, when a terror strike on two Bali nightclubs killed
202 people, sentencing at least three to death. (**)
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