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.