The Age, January 2, 2006 - 7:14PM
Five militants on trial in Indonesia
Five Indonesian militants went on trial in Jakarta on Monday, accused of hiding fugitive
terrorist leader Noordin Top after a 2004 car bombing outside the Australian embassy
in Jakarta that killed 10 people.
Police have said the September 9, 2004, bombing was masterminded by Top and
fellow Malaysian Azahari bin Husin, who police killed in a raid on his East Java
hideout last November.
Both Top and Azahari before his death were senior operatives of Jemaah Islamiah, a
group seen as al-Qaeda's arm in Southeast Asia.
One of the defendants who went on trial was Ahmad Rofiq Ridho, a brother of Fathur
Rohman al-Ghozi, an Indonesian Jemaah Islamiah operative who was killed in the
Philippines after escaping from a Manila jail in 2003.
"(Ridho) was indicted for failing to inform on the whereabouts of Noordin Top and the
involvement in criminal conspiracies," said Gilroy Noviandi, a member of the defence
team representing three of the five defendants, including Ridho.
"The charges against the other four were for the same things."
Police almost caught Top hours before the raid that led to Azahari's death.
Authorities believe he is still in Indonesia.
Prosecutors also indicted Ridho for surveying bombing targets in East Java that
include a Christian school and a plush hotel.
Authorities believe Azahari and Top played crucial roles in other bombings in
Indonesia in recent years that have been blamed on Jemaah Islamiah.
In the 2004 Jakarta blast, a one-tonne bomb was detonated inside a delivery van just
before the driver reached the embassy gate.
It ripped open the blast-proof fence of the embassy and badly damaged numerous
buildings in one of the city's busiest business areas.
© 2006 AAP
Copyright © 2004. The Age Company Ltd.
|
