Bombers' accomplices jailed for up to 15 years

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

The Denpasar District Court sentenced Hernianto and Masykur Abdul Kadir to 12 years and 15 years in jail respectively on Monday for helping perpetrators of the Bali bombings carry out the attacks that killed 202 people last October.

In their verdict, the judges trying Hernianto said the defendant was proven guilty of planning a terrorist act.

"The defendant has clearly violated Article 15 of the law on terrorism and is therefore sentenced to 12 years in jail," said judge IB Jagra as he delivered the verdict.

Prosecutors had demanded 20 years in prison for Hernianto, who maintained he was not guilty, despite the verdict.

The judges said Hernianto was proven guilty of providing a meeting point at his home in Surakarta, Central Java, sometime in July or August 2002, which led to the planning and execution of the blasts in Bali.

Participants at the meeting included Abdul Aziz, alias Imam Samudra, Abdul Matin and Zulkarnaen. The former has been sentenced to death while the latter two remain at large. During the meeting they also planned to protest against church leaders who took part in the Asian Church leaders meeting at Lord Inn, also in Surakarta.

Hernianto, who was accompanied by lawyer Rudiyanto, said that he would appeal the verdict.

The judges said they arrived at the verdict after taking into consideration that the defendant was still young, with small children. But the judges also found that Hernianto had shown no remorse, as he had considered his action was in accordance with his religious belief.

In a separate hearing, the only local brought to court, Masykur Abdul Kadir, a native of Singaraja, North Bali, was found guilty of deliberately facilitating the bombers by providing access to transportation and accommodation in Bali.

The judges said Masykur had helped hire a rental car and had found rooms for Samudra and other suspect, Jhony Hendrawan.

Prosecutors had demanded the same length of sentence for Masykur.

The defendant's wife, Siti Ferianti, broke down in tears, saying her husband was innocent.

"The sentence is too heavy for my husband. He was only trying to make ends meet and support his family," Siti wept while holding onto her husband tightly.

Like Hernianto, Masykur also planned to appeal the verdict.

As of now, the Denpasar Court has sentenced 15 of 29 Bali bombing defendants. Two of the bombers, Amrozi and Samudra, were sentenced to death and Ali Imron received a life sentence.

In Makassar, the prosecutors in the deadly bombing of a McDonald's fast-food outlet demanded on Monday a 10-year jail sentence for Muchtar Daeng Lau, a man accused of attending a planning meeting to carry out the attack.

Prosecutors said the defendant attended the meeting at the house of key suspect Agung Abdul Hamid in October 2002 and took the minutes of the meeting.

Three people -- including the attacker -- were killed in the Dec. 5 bombing. Another blast damaged a car showroom belonging to the family of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla shortly afterward but caused no casualties.

Agung is currently at large.

The court sentenced last Thursday Imal Hamid to six years in prison for concealing information related to terrorist acts. Earlier this month, it sentenced Suryadi to seven years in jail for withholding information and storing firearms for the assailants. Some 20 suspects remain in custody.