Paras Indonesia, 09, 14 2005 @ 06:06 pm
Second Militant Gets Death for Bombing
Posted by: Roy Tupai
A second Islamic militant has been sentenced to death for taking part in last year's
suicide bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday (14/9/05) found Ahmad Hasan (34) guilty
of involvement in planning the attack, helping to build the one-ton bomb and harboring
the masterminds of the blast.
The same court on Tuesday sentenced Rois, alias Iwan Dharmawan, to death for his
similar role in the September 9, 2004, bombing that killed 11 people.
Three other men have also been sentenced in connection with the bombing, receiving
prison terms ranging from 42 months to seven years.
Prosecutors had said that on the morning of the attack, accused bombing
mastermind Azahari Husin and suicide bomber Heri Gulon drove an explosives-laden
Daihatsu delivery van toward the embassy on Jalan Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South
Jakarta, while Hasan followed them on a motorbike.
They reportedly stopped near the Ministry of Cooperatives, Small and Medium
Enterprises so that Azahari could install a detonator. The three then prayed at a
nearby mosque.
Golun then drove the Daihatsu toward the embassy, while Azahari and Hasan rode
the motorcycle to a safe distance. Azahari allegedly activated the detonator when
Golun arrived outside the embassy gate.
All of the victims of the attack were Indonesians, mostly security guards, police,
bystanders and passing motorists.
Azahari and Hasan fled on the motorbike to the West Java town of Cikampek and
were apparently stopped three times by traffic police but released after paying bribes.
Hasan later provided a hiding place in the East Java town of Blitar for Azahari and
fellow accused bombing mastermind Noordin Mohammad Top. The pair stayed from
December 2003 to February 2004 at Hasan's official residence provided by his former
employer, state-owned agricultural company PT Pertani.
Azahari and Noordin, both Malaysians, are still at large. Police have said the two are
members of regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been blamed for
a series of deadly bombings.
The prosecution had said Hasan taught Heri Golun how to drive, surveyed the
embassy a day before the attack, conducted bomb-making classes for terror recruits
and purchased explosive materials for the embassy bomb.
Presiding judge Achmad Sobari said Hasan had been "legally and convincingly found
guilty" of involvement in the planning of a terrorist act. "Killing is a big thing in the
eyes of God. Blood must be paid with blood. Whoever is guilty must be punished," he
was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
The judge said there were no mitigating factors to show Hasan any leniency because
he expressed no remorse for his "uncivilized actions" that had discredited Islam and
killed his fellow Indonesians.
Hasan showed no emotion when the verdict was handed down, but later shouted
"Allahu Akbar [God is great]" three times as he was led outside the court. His chant
was immediately echoed by a noisy crowd of his supporters.
Like Rois a day earlier, Hasan rejected the verdict and claimed the charges against
him were based on "lies and foreign intervention".
"This really is the devil's court. Anyone who accepts this verdict is an infidel," Hasan
was quoted as saying by detikcom online news portal.
His lawyer Ahmad Michdan said the verdict would be appealed. "The facts were not
explored optimally and there were foreign influences of terrorism propaganda to corner
Muslims," he said.
The attack was reportedly financed by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, at a cost
$10,000, to avenge the killings of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq by the US and its
allies.
Downer Welcomes Verdicts
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has welcomed the verdicts
against Rois and Hasan, even though Australia is opposed to capital punishment.
"I welcome the demonstration today of Indonesia's commitment to fight terrorism with
the conviction of Rois for his role in the bombing," he said in a statement Tuesday.
The following day he said: "Indonesia's courts have delivered another blow to terrorism
with the conviction today of Ahmad Hasan for his role in the bombing of the Australian
Embassy."
"The court has delivered the most severe sentence possible for the bomber's terrible
crime. The conviction underlines Indonesia's determination to prosecute to the full
extent of the law those involved directly or indirectly in terrorism," he said.
Australia was outraged earlier this year when Indonesia granted sentence remissions
to most of the more than 30 militants convicted over the October 2002 Bali nightclub
bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Much of the indignation was against Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged spiritual leader Abu
Bakar Baasyir, who was in March 2005 sentenced to 30 months in jail for being part
of a "sinister conspiracy" behind the bombings. Baasyir's sentence was cut by 135
days in August.
Damien Kingsbury, an expert on Indonesian affairs from Australia's Deakin University,
criticized Downer for praising the verdicts against the embassy bombers. "I thought
this was an undiplomatic and stupid thing for Alexander Downer to say," he said in an
interview with Radio Singapore International.
"Australia does not have capital punishment, there is no death penalty in Australia,
and Australia opposes any death penalty for its own citizens abroad. So I think if
Australia were to be consistent, it should say that whilst it welcomed the conviction, it
did not necessarily support the death penalty as such," he said.
"But Downer should have just kept quiet on this. And said, if anything, he should have
said this is the Indonesian judicial system at work, and it is their business, and made
no other comment," he added.
Copyright (c) 2005 - PT Laksamana Global International. All rights reserved
|
