Christmas bombing suspect gets 15 years in jail

BANDUNG (JP): The Bandung District Court sentenced on Monday Muhammad Iqbal to 15 years imprisonment for his involvement in a Christmas Eve bomb blast in Bandung last year which killed four people.

The sentence was far lighter than the life sentence the prosecutor had demanded.

The 42-year-old Iqbal kept his head down and began to cry when the verdict was handed down by presiding judge Hazli Saleh. The defendant's two wives, who were present on the courtroom, also shed tears upon hearing the verdict.

The judge said Iqbal was guilty of the illegal possession and use of explosives, a violation of State Emergency Law No. 12/1951 and articles 55, 56 and 186 of the Criminal Code on the illegal possession and use of weapons.

Four men died in the blast at a welding shop on Jl. Terusan Jakarta in Bandung on the evening of Dec. 24, 2000. The shop is believed to have been used to assemble bombs that were meant to be planted in different locations in Bandung.

The judge said the only mitigating circumstance in the defendant's favor was that Iqbal had never before been convicted of a crime.

The judge said there was no doubt that Iqbal was involved in the use and handling of the explosives.

The court said Iqbal's actions caused the loss of four lives, and that the bomb blast created a public disturbance as well as creating a possible conflict between religious groups. Iqbal also once escaped police detention.

Iqbal's lawyer Armanto Ahza said he would appeal the verdict.

Two other suspects in the case, Roni Miliar and Agus Kurniawan, were sentenced to nine years of imprisonment each. (25)