LAKSAMANA.Net, June 15, 2004 11:15 PM
Terror Suspect Admits Meeting Bin Laden
Laksamana.Net - Mohammad Syaifudin, an Indonesian student charged with
terrorism, says he met with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan prior to the
September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the US that killed about 2,750 people.
"I and my friends had a meeting with Osama bin Laden at Al Farouq Mosque in
Karachi. The meeting was before the September 11 incident," he was quoted as
saying Tuesday (15/6/04) by Reuters. He was speaking to reporters before the start of
his trial at Central Jakarta District Court.
Syaifudin (24) denied the meeting discussed al Qaeda's suicide attacks on New York
and Washington, in which hijackers flew commercial airplanes into the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon.
"In this meeting, Osama only gave advice, like a parent's advice to a child. He only
reminded us of a Muslim's obligations that might often be forgotten," he was quoted
as saying by detikcom online news portal. He did not give an exact date for the
meeting.
He said the US hates bin Laden because he had sought to avenge the deaths of
fellow Muslims in Palestine. "America hates Osama bin Laden because he has said
that he would take revenge against the United States for its slaughtering of
Palestinians," he was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.
Syaifudin was one of six Indonesian students arrested in the southern Pakistani city
of Karachi last September during a series of raids on Islamic schools for alleged
involvement in a 'sleeper cell' of regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah, which
has been linked to al Qaeda.
The six were deported in December. Four were subsequently charged with terrorism,
while two were released due a lack of evidence.
Police initially charged the four - Syaifudin, Rusman 'Gun Gun' Gunawan, Ilham
Sofyandi and Furqon Abdullah - with facilitating terrorism by providing assistance to
Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged former operations chief Hambali.
Gunawan, who is Hambali's younger brother, has reportedly admitted to channeling
$50,000 and telecommunications equipment to his sibling, but denies any direct
involvement in terrorism. Authorities plan to put Gunawan on trial next week.
Hambali is suspected of masterminding several terror attacks in Southeast Asia,
including the October 12, 2002, Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people. He
was arrested in Thailand in August and is now being held by US authorities at an
undisclosed location, despite Indonesia's repeated demands that he be sent home for
trial.
Syaifudin is now charged under two articles of the anti-terror law and could receive the
death penalty if convicted. The charges relate to his alleged involvement in the August
2003 bombing of Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel that killed 12 people.
He is also charged with an immigration offense, stemming from his allegedly illegal
entry to Pakistan.
Prosecutor A.A. Weylang told the court that Syaifudin joined Jemaah Islamiyah in
1998 and underwent three months of military-style training at the Budaibiyah Muslim
rebel camp in the southern Philippines in 2000.
After the training, said Weylang, the defendant returned to Indonesia and was sent to
Pakistan, where he studied at a camp organized by Afghanistan's Taliban regime. In
2001 he went to Afghanistan to join Taliban forces fighting against US invaders, before
returning to Pakistan in 2002.
The prosecutor said Syaifudin had at the met with training camp in the Philippines
with Hambali and Abdul Rohim, the younger brother of Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged
spiritual leader Abu Bakar Baasyir.
He said the defendant had provided Hambali with information on inter-religious conflict
in the Maluku islands and Central Sulawesi, as well as details of other conflicts in
Indonesia.
Weyland said that at the request of Hambali, Syaifudin had joined the cell established
in Karachi by Gunawan and became the group's deputy leader.
Stay in Jail
In other terror-related news, AFP reported the Supreme Court has ruled that three
suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members must remain in detention despite being
acquitted on terrorism charges by an appeals court last month.
Attorney General's Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman said Tuesday the ruling
was issued last week pending the outcome of a counter-appeal by prosecutors to the
Supreme Court.
The three suspects - Firmansyah, Fajri and Aang Hasanuddin - were in March
convicted by Central Sulawesi's Palu District Court.
Firmansyah and Fajri were each sentenced to five years in jail for helping to finance
Jemaah Islamiyah operations in Palu. They were also found guilty of assisting
self-confessed Jemaah Islamiyah member Achmad Roichan, who is presently serving
a nine year sentence for possession of explosives and helping to hide Mukhlas, one of
the main perpetrators of the Bali bombings.
Hasanuddin was sentenced to three years in jail for not informing police of the
activities of Firmansyah and Fajri.
But the Central Sulawesi Court of Appeal in May ruled there had been insufficient
evidence to convict the three.
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