Hambali abettor faces six-year jail term

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Muhammad Saefuddin, an accomplice of alleged terror plotter Hambali, should be given a six-year jail term, prosecutors at the Central Jakarta District Court said.

Saefuddin, a former Indonesian student at the Abu Bakar Islamic University in Karachi, Pakistan, had been involved in terrorist activities in Indonesia, prosecutor A.A. Welang told the trial.

He said the defendant was charged for giving Hambali updated information on Indonesia, particularly in its conflict areas such as Ambon and Poso in Central Sulawesi.

Hambali, who police say is a key leader of the regional Jamaah Islamiyah terror group, has been blamed for masterminding a series of bombings in the country, including the Bali blasts that killed 202 people and the JW Marriott Hotel attack, which claimed 13 lives.

He was arrested in Thailand in August 2003 and is currently being detained in U.S. custody.

Welang, who read the charge, said Saefuddin met Hambali in Afghanistan in 2001, while he knew that the latter was wanted by the Indonesian police for his suspected involvement in the Christmas church bombings in 2000.

Saefuddin was also charged with recruiting Indonesian students in Pakistan to join military training in Afghanistan for terrorist purposes, the prosecutor said.

The defendant was a member of the al-Ghuraba study group of Indonesian and Malaysian students in Karachi, which had undertaken paramilitary training in terrorism while in Afghanistan.

The training held at the al-Faruq Camp taught new recruits bomb making, map reading and how to use AK-47, M-16, Uzzi and Macarov automatic rifles.

Saefuddin was arrested in Karachi along with three other Indonesian students -- Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan, Ilham Sopandi and Furqon Abdullah -- in September. Also rounded up at the time were 13 Malaysian and two Myanmarese students.

The four Indonesian students were deported to Jakarta in December last year for interrogation at the National Police Headquarters.

Prosecutors said the al-Ghuraba study group was established by Gun Gun, with the support from his elder brother Hambali, to create more militant recruits for terrorist attacks.

The militants were taught Islam must be protected from its enemies -- Jews, Communists and the United States -- by any means possible, including the use of suicide bombings, prosecutors said.

In a separate trial on Monday, Gun Gun accused the United States of playing a role in his arrest.

"We are only victims of American paranoia," he said in his defense plea.