The Jakarta Post, 6/15/2004 4:20:18 PM
Terrorist suspect admits meeting bin Laden
JAKARTA (AP): An Indonesian student facing terrorism charges said on Tuesday that
he had met Osama bin Laden and insisted the al-Qaeda leader was hated by the
United States because he defends fellow Muslims.
Mohamad Syaifudin, one of four Indonesian students deported from Pakistan in
December, spoke ahead of his trial on charges that he conspired to commit terror
acts including helping plan the Aug. 5, 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel in
Jakarta.
He faces a maximum penalty of death if found guilty under the country's harsh
anti-terror law.
"I met Osama bin Laden several times before September 11, (2001), in Karachi,
Pakistan," Syaifudin told reporters as he entered the Central Jakarta District Court.
"America hates Osama bin Laden because he has said that he would take revenge
against the United States for its slaughtering of Palestinians."
State prosecutor A. Welang told the court that Syaifudin, 24, joined Jemaah Islamiyah
in 1998 and underwent a three-month training in the group's military Budaibiyah Camp
in the southern Philippines in 2000.
After returning to Indonesia, Welang said the defendant was sent to Pakistan where
he studied in a camp organized by Afghanistan's Taliban regime.
He joined Taliban forces fighting against the U.S. invasion in 2001 before returning to
Pakistan in 2002, Welang said.
Syaifudin was arrested along with Rusman Gunawan, the younger brother of Hambali -
a key Southeast Asian terrorism suspect accused of heading the al-Qaeda linked
Jemaah Islamiyah group.
Gunawan goes on trial next week on charges stemming from the Marriott blast.
Authorities in Pakistan have accused Gunawan of establishing a branch of Jemaah
Islamiyah there and sending upward of US$50,000 to Hambali.
Hambali, whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, has been in U.S. custody at an
undisclosed location since his Aug. 11 arrest in Thailand. Indonesian authorities have
yet to directly question him despite repeated promises made by U.S. officials
including President George W. Bush.
Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for the Oct. 12, 2002, Bali nightclub bombings that killed
202 people, mostly foreigners, and the Marriott attack which killed 12. (***)
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