Bali bomber gets life, Makassar bombers 7-12 years

Bali bomber gets life, Makassar bombers 7-12 years

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post,
Denpasar/Makasssar

A fifth suspect in last year's Bali bombings, Utomo Pamungkas,
alias Mubarok, received a life sentence on Thursday for planning,
conspiring and executing acts of terrorism.

A panel of judges at the Denpasar District Court said in its
verdict that the evidence, witness testimony and the defendant's
own confession pointed to his key role in the Oct. 12, 2002,
bombings that claimed 202 lives.

The judges said Mubarok was present at an August 2002 meeting
held in the home of Hernianto, who was convicted earlier for the
bombings, to plot the attack. The meeting took place in the
Central Java town of Surakarta.

The convicted mastermind of the attacks, Ali Gufron, used
Mubarok's bank account to transfer a large sum of money to
another Bali bomber, Amrozi. This money was later used to
purchase explosives.

"We find the defendant to be guilty of involvement in the
planning and execution of acts of terrorism," presiding judge I
Nengah Suriada read when delivering the court's verdict.

The prosecutors had requested a life sentence for the suspect.

Three other Bali bombers -- Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Abdul Aziz,
alias Imam Samudra, and Ali Gufron -- have been sentenced to
death. Another suspect, Ali Imron, was sentenced to life
imprisonment.

Both Mubarok and Imron were arrested on Jan. 13, 2003, in a
house on the isolated island of Berukang in East Kalimantan.

Mubarok was also implicated in the Christmas Eve bombing of a
church in Mojokerto, East Java, in 2000.

Under the country's new antiterrorism law, planning and
executing terrorist attacks are punishable by death. The court
spared Mubarok from the firing squad because he was respectful
throughout his trial, confessed his crime and expressed regret
for his actions.

The defendant admitted to being a member of the Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) militant group and fighting Soviet occupation in
Afghanistan. He also told officers that he sent arms and
explosives to Poso in Central Sulawesi and Ambon in Maluku, both
areas the scene of religious violence.

JI has been blamed for a series of bombings in the country and
has been included on the United Nations list of terrorist
organizations for its links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
network.

Mubarok said he needed time to consider whether to appeal the
verdict.

Immediately after the judges ended the trial, Australian Jan
Laczynski rose and shouted his gratitude to the judges for the
sentence.

In a separate trial, Firmansyah was sentenced to four years in
prison for helping Mubarok and Imron evade the law. The sentence
was three years lighter than the punishment being sought by
prosecutors.

The court is next week scheduled to deliver a verdict in the
trial of Muhajir, the last in the first batch of 29 Bali bombing
suspects to go on trial. The trials of the second batch of four
suspects will begin at the end of October.

Separately, the Makassar District Court handed five people
jail sentences of between seven years and 12 years for their
roles in last December's bombings of a McDonald's outlet and a
car dealership in South Sulawesi. Three people died in the
bombings.

The court jailed Masnur bin Abdul Latif to 12 years, Usman
Nuraffan, Anton bin Labbase and Ilham Riadi to eight years each,
and Lukman bin Husain to seven years.

A panel of judges said Masnur was guilty of assisting in an
act of terrorism by ordering his employees to built a container
to be used in the bombings on Dec. 5, 2002.

They also said the defendant was guilty of the illegal
possession of explosives and arms.

In a separate courtroom, judges said Ilham and Anton helped
the bombers by providing explosives and by failing to inform the
authorities of terrorist activities.

Of the 16 suspects on trial for the bombings, 10 have so far
been jailed. Three other suspects are still at large, including
the alleged mastermind of the bombings, Agung Abdul Hamid.