Car owner testifies in Marriott trial

JAKARTA: The former owner of the minivan planted with bombs that blasted the JW Marriot Hotel, South Jakarta, told the court on Tuesday that the defendant was not one of the two men who bought the minivan for Rp 25 million (US$2,941).

Azis, the witness, told the session at South Jakarta District Court that two unidentified men made an offer for his 1986 Kijang minivan on July 21, 2003, after he placed an advertisement for its sale in a Jakarta newspaper.

"They never told me their identities or what the van would be used for. All I know is that they made a reasonable offer and I let the vehicle go," he said.

Azis said that both men had thick West Sumatran accents.

The blast last August claimed 12 lives and injured 147 others.

According to prosecutors, defendant Muhammad Rais, allegedly an accomplice of the two most wanted suspects in the blast -- Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohd. Top, was the one who introduced Asmar Latin Sani, the Marriott suicide bomber.

Another witness, hotel duty manager Agus Prihadi, said in his testimony that he witnessed the police carrying the head of the suspected bomber, whom he later knew identified as Asmar, from inside the hotel.

Rais was charged under the law on terrorism, and could go before a firing squad if convicted.

Presiding judge Johanes E. Binti set another hearing date of March 9 to hear other witnesses. -- JP