Paras Indonesia, September, 08 2006 @ 09:36 pm
Bali Bombings II Defendants & Terror Webmaster Sentenced
By: Roy Tupai
Two militants have received lengthy jail terms for their roles in the October 2005 Bali
cafe bombings that killed 23 people and injured at least 150. Separately, another man
has been jailed for designing a website that gave details of how to conduct terror
attacks against Westerners in Indonesia.
Bali's Denpasar District Court on Thursday (7/9/06) sentenced Mohammad Cholili (28)
to 18 years in prison for buying explosives and making electronic circuitry for the
bombs, which were concealed in backpacks and used by three suicide bombers. He
was also found guilty of harboring Malaysian terrorist mastermind Azahari bin Husin at
a house in Batu, near Malang, East Java province. Azahari who was killed by
anti-police in a shootout at the house last November.
Prosecutors had recommended a 15-year sentence for Cholili. Presiding judge Gusti
Ngurah Astawa said the defendant's sentence was more severe because he had
created a climate of fear in Bali, damaged the island's economy, and is a dangerous
and highly skilled bomb maker.
"The defendant Mohammad Cholili alias Anise alias Cahya Antoni is found
legitimately and convincingly guilty of the criminal act of terrorism. He is sentenced to
18 years in prison," Astawa was quoted as saying by detikcom online news portal.
The judge said Cholili had built the bombs with Azahari and fellow Malaysian terrorist
Noordin Mohammad Top, who remains at large despite a major manhunt. Noordin and
Azahari have been accused of playing key roles in regional terror network Jemaah
Islamiyah, which is blamed for a series of deadly attacks, including the October 2002
Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.
Immediately following the verdict, Cholili happily shook hands with the judges and
keenly gave the thumbs up, but said he did not accept his punishment because he
only recognized justice from Allah. "The divine justice of Allah is beautiful. Allah's
divine justice is faultless. I will not accept this punishment. This gift sweetens my life.
This gift gives beauty to my life. Furthermore, tomorrow is my birthday," he said.
Defense lawyer Bambang Trianto said the sentence was "a bitter pill" on the eve of
Cholili's 29th birthday. He denied his client had assembled any bombs.
The court heard that Cholili joined Jemaah Islamiyah in 1999 but did not become
active in plotting attacks until last year at the orders of the network's East Java leader
Achmad Basir.
Cholili had been arrested about four weeks after the October 1 bombings while
delivering a bomb from Azahari to Noordin. He immediately revealed the location of the
Batu hideout, which he had rented in July 2005 for Rp3 million per month on the
pretext of needing a quiet place to complete his thesis for Malang's Muhammadiyah
University. The house was also occupied by Tedi Surya and Budi Darmawan alias
Arman, who also posed as students but were actually taught by Azahari how to make
bombs. Noordin stayed at the house for three weeks in September before leaving with
Tedi for Central Java with several bombs built by Cholili, Arman and Azahari. Arman
killed himself by detonating a suicide bomb vest when police raided the house. Tedi
remains at large.
Video
Earlier on Thursday, Dwi 'Wiwid' Widiasto (34) was sentenced by the same court to
eight years in jail for transferring a videotape of Noordin and the three suicide bombers
prior to the bombings. The footage showed Noordin saying "you have witnessed bomb
attacks on the nest of the enemies of Islam in Legian and Jimbaran on Bali island,
Indonesia". Widiasto transferred the footage to a video compact disc, which he gave
on the day of the bombings to militant Abdul Aziz (30) in Pekalongan, Central Java.
Presiding judge Wayan Rena Wardana said the verdict was less than the 10 years
demanded by the prosecution because Wiwid was not a perpetrator of the bombings,
but had played a role in "transferring an oration of the implementation of the Bali
bombings II" and failed to report the plan to authorities.
"The defendant Dwi Widiasto alias Wiwid is found legitimately and convincingly guilty
of the criminal act of terrorism, so is sentenced to eight years in jail," he said. The
judge said it had also been proven that Wiwid knew Noordin when he was on the run
from the law.
He said the defendant had purchased a handycam on the orders of a man named
Subur Sugiarto, who had helped to recruit the three suicide bombers. Wiwid then took
the handycam to the Padang Selera restaurant in Semarang, Central Java, where he
met with Sugiarto and Noordin, who was using the alias Herman.
Wiwid said he was yet to decide whether to appeal his sentence.
Abdul Aziz, the highschool computer teacher who received the video compact disc of
Noordin from Wiwid, was on Tuesday sentenced by Denpasar District Court to eight
years in prison for harboring Noordin at his school prior to the Bali II bombings. Aziz
was also found guilty of uploading the footage of Noordin and the suicide bombers on
his terrorism guidance website named www.anshar.net.
Presiding judge Nyoman Gede Wirya said the verdict was less than the 10 years
demanded by the prosecution because it was Aziz's first offense, he had expressed
regret and he was still young enough to hopefully reform his actions. He said the
defendant had carried out part of an organized crime as a member of Jemaah
Islamiyah.
"His act is a crime against humanity but also against Indonesia. What he has done is
make Indonesia's image as a den of terrorists... Indonesians were known for their
friendliness and hospitality, but not anymore," he was quoted as saying by the
Australian Associated Press.
Fellow judge Eddy Parulian said Aziz had made the website on Noordin's instructions
to support his terror campaign.
A fourth and final suspect in the Bali bombings II, Anif Solchanudin, is due to be
sentenced soon.
Aziz did not say whether he would appeal. He merely said: "Praise Allah. I'm certain
Allah is great."
Imam Samudra
Police last month said one of the convicted masterminds of the first Bali bombings,
Imam Samudra, had used a laptop smuggled into his prison cell to help plot the
second Bali bombings. But National Police chief General Sutanto on Monday said
police had not yet found any evidence that Samudra used the computer to order the
attacks from Denpasar's the Kerobokan prison. He merely said Samudra had used
the internet to chat with other people.
Police in August arrested two so-called "cyber-terrorists, Agung Setyadi (31) and
Agung Prabowo (23), in separate raids in Central Java and accused them of using
computer technology to help Samudra organize the 2005 Bali blasts. Also arrested
was prison guard Beni Irawan, who delivered the computer to Samudra.
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