The Jakarta Post, February 01, 2006
Two Maluku terror suspects could get firing squad
M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon
Ambon prosecutors on Tuesday asked for death sentences for two Muslim militants
accused of plotting a February 2004 attack on a karaoke bar in which two people were
killed.
Prosecutors told the Ambon District Court that Idi Amin Tabrani Pattimura, alias
Ongen Pattimura, and Fatur Datu Armen should face the death penalty for
masterminding the Feb. 14 attack on the Villa karaoke bar in Hative Besar village,
Teluk Ambong Baguala district.
The pair have been charg! ed under the 2003 Law on Terrorism.
Prosecutors said Ongen and Fatur led a group armed with six weapons, including
three M-16 rifles.
"The weapons used to belong to the hard-line Laskar Jihad group," a prosecutor,
Nunik Triyana, said.
Members of the group police accuse of carrying out the attack are Ismail Yamsehu,
Syarif Tarabubun, Ridwan Lestaluhu, Ancu Pary, Nachrum Wailissahalong, Samsul
Bahri Sangadji, Muthalib Patty, Thaha Assagaf, La Udin, La Ode Rusdi, Rusli
Amiluddin and Mitho.
Police formally charged some of these men in earlier trials, Nunik said.
The two victims in the karaoke bar attack -- Siti Ratnawaty and Yondry Patiruhu --
were both shot in the head, Nunik said. After the attack, the group's weapons were
hidden at the State Institute for Islamic Studies in Ambon.
"(Ongen and Fatur) planned acts of terrorism to spread fear among the public, kill!
people and to destroy public property," Ridwan Massry, another prosecutor, said at
Fatur's trial.
Ongen, a resident of Batumerah in Ambon, is a father of four who comes from Latu
village in Western Seram regency. A former political science student at the State
Institute for Islamic Studies, he owns a cafe at Batumerah and once stood as a
legislative candidate for the Prosperous Justice Party in the 2004 general election.
Fatur, from Makassar, South Sulawesi, came to Ambon as a member of the Laskar
Jundullah and Wahdah Islamiyah militant groups. He later married a local woman, and
lived in Ambon as a fuel seller.
Known locally as a religious teacher, police also believe he has information about
another attack on a Lokki Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) post in May 16 last year.
Six people died in that attack, including five police officers.
The trial of the two suspects was heavily guarded, with a truck of ! Brimob police
officers escorting the pair to and from the court. Twenty more policemen in riot gear
also stood guard at the court's entrance gate.
Tensions were high during the trial, with at least 100 people, who claimed to be
members of the suspects' families, staging a noisy rally outside the courthouse.
When the group heard the prosecutors had demanded death sentences for Ongen and
Fatur, some became hysterical and several women fainted.
Sity Wakano, Ongen's aunt, said she believed the trial was politically motivated. "This
is not fair. Why haven't the masterminds of the Jan. 19, 1999, case, which led to a riot
in Maluku, been arrested and sentenced? What about those who incited the arson of
the Maluku governor's office and the legislative building; why haven't they also been
caught and put on trial?"
In a separate trial, another militant, Asep Jaja, is also facing the death penalty for his
alleged involvement in ! two attacks -- one at Wamsisi village and another on the Lokki
Brimob post.
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