Abettor in embassy bombing gets 4 years

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The South Jakarta District Court sentenced on Tuesday a suspect in the Sept. 9, 2004 bombing in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta to four years' imprisonment.

Agus Ahmad bin Engkos Kosasih, 32, was found guilty for his role in storing, transporting and hiding explosive materials used in the blast, in which 11 people were killed, all Indonesian citizens.

The sentence was lighter than the five years demanded by prosecutors.

Presiding judge Yohannes Suhadi said Agus was also guilty of harboring Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M. Top -- who have been accused of orchestrating a series of terror attacks across the country over the past few years -- and providing his house as a place for the two to plot the embassy attack.

Azahari and Noordin, both Malaysian, are still on the run.

"Agus was proven to have carried with him four boxes and one bag filled with explosives from Cianjur, West Java, to Cikande in Serang one day before the explosion together with Azahari, Noordin and Rois," Yohannes told the court.

Rois, or Iwan Darmawan Mutho, is also being tried separately in the same case.

He said Agus' action had caused lives to be lost, while a lightening factor considered by the judges was the fact that Agus was still young and had been polite throughout the trial.

Before Tuesday's verdict, Agus maintained his claims of innocence, but said he expected to be convicted due to foreign pressure on the country.

"This government is still a puppet of America and Australia because they continue to oppress Muslims. If they release me, then it is the only proof of a fair trial," he was quoted as saying by AFP.

Agus said he would appeal the verdict, while prosecutor Jaya Sakti said he was yet to decide.

Tuesday's verdict came soon after the same court sentenced late last week Irun Hidayat, 38, to three and half years' imprisonment for being an accessory to the embassy attack.

The sentence was also lighter than the five years recommended by prosecutors.

Police have prepared charges against five other people arrested for the embassy blast.

The embassy attack, as well as the 2001 Bali and 2003 J.W. Marriott hotel bombings, is thought to be the work of Jamaah Islamiyah, a clandestine organization that has been linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in the United States and the recent attacks on London.