Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
The Denpasar District Court sentenced on Wednesday five
accomplices in the Bali bombing case with prison terms ranging
from three to six years.
The panel of judges sentenced Sofyan Hadi to six years,
Mujarot and Sirojul Munir to five, Imam Susanto to four and
Syamsul Arifin to three years.
They were found guilty of assisting one of the main
perpetrators of the attack, Ali Imron, when he fled from
Lamongan, East Java, to remote Berukang island in East
Kalimantan.
Ali Imron was sentenced to life in prison last month for his
role in the nightclub blasts that killed 202 people -- mostly
foreign holidaymakers -- on Oct. 12 last year.
Judge Arif Supratman handed down a three-year prison sentence
to Syamsul Arifin for "withholding information on a known
terrorist". The defendant said he would not contest the verdict.
Eyewitnesses' accounts placed the defendant as the man who
cared for Ali Imron when Imron fell ill in South Kalimantan.
Although the defendant was fully aware that Imron was a fugitive,
he failed to notify local authorities.
In a separate trial, Mujarod, who accompanied Ali Imron while
he was hiding at Firmansyah's house in East Kalimantan, was
sentenced to five years. The prosecution had requested 8 years.
Sofyan Hadi, who acted as a courier for Sirojul Munir and Ali
Imron, was given six years. Sofyan said he would challenge the
verdict.
"The defendant Sofyan Hadi is legally and convincingly guilty
of helping to hide a perpetrator of a terror crime," presiding
judge Arif Supratman said.
Sirojul Munir, who provided Mubarok and Ali Imron with cash --
Rp 100,000 and 500,000 respectively -- was sentenced to five
years, and immediately said he would contest the verdict.
In the last trial of the accomplices, the presiding judge
passed down a four-year sentence to Imam Susanto, who accompanied
Ali Imron while he was hiding in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. The
prosecution had asked for seven years.
Imron is the only suspect who has openly expressed regret for
his actions. He confessed to driving an explosives-laden van to
the Sari Club and training a suicide bomber how to detonate a
vest lined with explosives.
Police have blamed regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah
(JI) for the Bali bombings, in which over 300 innocent people
were also injured.
Three JI members, including two of Imron's brothers, have been
sentenced to death for the worst terror act since the Sept. 11,
2001 attacks in the United States.
As of Wednesday, the court has handed down sentences to 26 out
of the 33 defendants on trial in connection with the Bali bombing
case. Three of the defendants have been given the death sentence.
On Thursday, the court is to read out the sentence for
Mubarok, one of the key defendants in the case.
Three defendants are still on trial and four others are
awaiting the commencement of their trials.