Bomber of Philippine envoy's home gets 20 years, says he will appeal
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced on Monday Abdul Jabar to 20 years in prison for his involvement in the bombing of the official residence for the Philippines ambassador that killed two people and injured dozens of others on Aug. 1, 2000.
The sentence was more lenient than the prosecutors' demand of life imprisonment.
"The defendant has been proven beyond all reasonable doubt to have possessed and used explosive materials illegally and, with others, to have launched a bomb attack on the house of the Philippines ambassador on Jl. Imam Bonjol, Central Jakarta," presiding judge Pramodana K. Kusumah told the court.
The judge said that the sentence fitted a crime that had claimed the lives of innocent people, had spread fear among the public, and may have disrupted the country's economy.
Together with Dedy Setiono, who had been sentenced to life for his role in the Atrium Plaza bombing, and Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, Jabar was proven to have assisted the detonation of a car bomb outside the residence of the Philippines ambassador.
Al-Ghozi, who fled a heavily-guarded prison in the Philippines after being convicted for 17 years on illegal explosives possession, was killed by the Philippines military in the southern part of the country on Sunday.
Jabar was assigned to watch the house and to signal to Al- Ghozi, who held the detonator.
The blast killed security guard Sofyan Hendrawan, housemaid Suhantin and injured 21 others, including Ambassador Leonides T. Caday.
Jabar admitted the bombing was to seek revenge for the deaths of fellow Muslims in the separatist conflict in the southern Philippines.
The prosecutors related the case to coordinated action involving Al-Ghozi and Amrozi. The latter was sentenced to death in August for his role in Bali bombings on October 2002.
Jabar was also actively involved in the planting of explosives aimed at destroying Koinonia Church, East Jakarta, and the Anglican church, Central Jakarta, on Dec. 24. Four people were killed in the Koinonia church explosion.
These formed part of a nationwide, coordinated attack on churches on Christmas Eve 2000 that killed 19 people.
Prosecutors charged Jabar with violating the 1951 Emergency Law on illegal possession of explosives and of being actively involved in continual bomb attacks.
Lawyer Qadar Faisal Ruskandar confirmed after the trial that the defense team would appeal against the verdict, saying that the sentence was too severe for a mere assistant to the other two perpetrators.
"He barely knew that his role would contribute to such a calamitous incident," he said.
Qadar said that the defendant's good attitude throughout the trial and his surrender to police in West Nusa Tenggara should have been considered as mitigating factors in the sentencing.
Prosecutors requested a week within which to respond to the verdict, which they considered too lenient for a perpetrator of such a heinous crime.