Death sought for another suspect in bomb attack

Death sought for another suspect in bomb attack

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Prosecutors demanded the death sentence here on Tuesday for Ahmad
Hasan who has been accused of assisting in the 2004 bombing of
the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, in which 11 people were
killed.

The 34-year-old defendant is being tried for abetting
Malaysian fugitives Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M. Top in
plotting the attack and making the bomb. Azahari and Noordin, who
have been linked with Jamaah Islamiyah, were allegedly the
masterminds of the attack.

The prosecutors told the South Jakarta Court that Ahmad, a
former government official, had been seated in the explosives-
laden van used in the attack along with Azahari and suicide
bomber Heri Golun.

Ahmad, who had taught the suicide bomber how to drive, and
Azahari got out of the van at a bus stop near the Australian
Embassy in Kuningan, South Jakarta, before the blast, they added.

"The defendant helped place the bomb in the van that was used
for the explosion," prosecutor A. Welang said.

He said that Ahmad drove Azahari on a motorcycle to check out
the site one day before carrying out the attack.

Ahmad also bought fertilizers and other chemical substances
that would be used by Noordin and Azahari to make the bomb,
Welang said.

The prosecutors also accused Ahmad, alias Agung Suntoro, of
helping Azahari and Noordin evade police arrest by hiding them in
his official residence in Blitar, East Java.

The house was also used to store 30 kilograms of explosive
substances belonging to Azahari and Noordin, they added.

Based on his indictment, Ahmad provided his official car as a
means of transportation for the two Malaysian fugitives in
carrying out their activities.

Welang and two other prosecutors Suntoro and Jeffry Wae said
Ahmad was charged with violating articles 14, 13 and 6 of the
Antiterror Law, which carries the maximum death sentence.

The prosecutors made the decision as the defendant never
expressed regret over what he had done and refused to cooperate
in giving information during the trial, Welang said.

As he was escorted back to his cell after Tuesday's trial,
Ahmad shouted out, in reference to the indictment, "This is mere
fabrication".

Previously, prosecutors demanded that the same court sentence
to death another suspect in the embassy blast, Irwan Darmawan
alias Rois.

Two of the six Australian Embassy bombing suspects have
already been sentenced to between three-and-a-half and
four-and-a-half years in prison.

The police have blamed the attack on Jamaah Islamiyah, which
has also been linked to the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202
people and the 2003 blast at Jakarta's J.W. Marriott hotel that
killed 12 people.

More than 20 people have been detained in connection with the
embassy bombing but a massive manhunt is still under way for
Azahari and Noordin.