Alleged Bali bomb leader faces slew of terror charges

Alleged Bali bomb leader faces slew of terror charges

Ahmad Pathoni, Agence-France Presse, Jakarta

The alleged field commander of the Bali bombings, Imam Samudra --
whose trial begins Monday -- faces multiple charges of terrorism
and could face the death sentence if convicted, according to a
copy of his indictment obtained Friday.

The 43-page indictment describes how Imam Samudra and 12
others "planned criminal acts of terrorism by using violence...to
cause massive victims."

The Oct. 12 bombings on the Indonesian resort island killed
202 people and injured some 350 others in the worst terrorist
attack since the Sept. 11 strikes.

Apart from the Bali bombings, Samudra is also charged with
staging a bomb attack on a church in Batam island in 2000, which
injured three people.

That attack was part of a bombing spree targeting churches in
major Indonesian cities on Christmas Eve that year that killed 19
people.

Samudra, 33, will be the second of more than 30 suspects to
face a court in Bali over the bombing, which is blamed on the
Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror group.

Amrozi, a 40-year-old mechanic, was the first suspect to stand
trial.

The indictment says the first meeting to plan "bomb attacks
against the interests of the United States and its allies" was
held in Bangkok in February 2002.

Samudra was not present in Bangkok but the indictment says he
attended later planning sessions between August and September
2002 -- in a car at Solo in Central Java, at a Solo mosque and at
a house.

At the car meeting Samudra told his accomplices of a "big
project" to wage war on the U.S. and said he planned to stage
several bomb attacks in Bali. He said he would pick the right
places.

He also said the attacks were intended to avenge the slaughter
of Muslims by the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, Palestine,
Kashmir and Iraq.

The indictment says Samudra also ordered a robbery at a
jewelry shop in Banten province to finance the Bali bombings. His
four accomplices in the robbery will be tried separately in Bali
Monday.

Samudra could face a firing squad if convicted of the Bali
bombings and 20 years in jail if found guilty in the Batam
bombing.

The indictment says Samudra assigned Amrozi to buy chemicals
for making bombs and a car, a man called Idris to prepare
transport and accommodation and Dulmatin to assemble the bombs.

The indictment says the idea for the bombing and strategies
came from Samudra.

"The defendant came forward with the idea of the bombing and
the strategy, based on Islamic law."

Later Samudra, who was born Abdul Azis, asked Idris to hand Rp
41.95 million (US$5,000) in two stages to Amrozi.

The cash was used by Amrozi to buy chemical materials and a
Mitsubishi L300 van.

In September Samudra and four other suspects traveled by car
to Bali to survey locations where the bombs were to be placed:
the US consulate at Renon, the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar in the
tourist strip of Kuta.

In the same month he transferred cash worth 20 million rupiah
to Amrozi to be used to buy more chemical materials.

Amrozi sent the entire consignment to Bali by bus.

On Oct. 5 Amrozi and a man called Utomo Pamungkas, alias
Mubarok, drove the Mitsubishi van, which was to carry the biggest
bomb, to Bali.

At a house in the Bali capital Denpasar two days later, the
three bombs were assembled by Dr Azahari, Ali Imron, Dulmatin,
Umar Besar and Umar Kecil.

The charge sheet says Azahari, a Malaysian who is still being
sought, constructed a nylon explosives-stuffed vest which a
suicide bomber called Feri, alias Isa, detonated inside Paddy's
Bar.

That blast at 11.08 pm is thought to have killed eight people.
Its apparent aim was to drive dozens of customers out into the
street, where they caught the full force of the van bomb
detonated outside the nearby Sari Club 29 seconds later.

The indictment says the van bomb was built by Azahari,
Dulmatin, Imron, Umar Besar and Patek. It was detonated by an
electrical switch by a man called Arnasan, alias Jimi. He died in
the blast.

Two seconds after the Sari Club blast, Idris used a mobile
phone to detonate a bomb outside the US consulate on the island.
It caused no injuries.