Harborers of Bali bombers get jail term

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

The Denpasar District Court sentenced on Wednesday three more people to jail for harboring and assisting Bali bombers while they were fugitives.

Sukastopo, Eko Hadi and Puryanto received three years, four years and four years and eight months respectively in separate trials after judges found them guilty of obstructing the police's investigation of the bomb attacks -- which killed 202 people and injured more than 300 in the popular tourist resort of Kuta in Bali on Oct. 12 last year.

The sentences were among the lightest of the 21 verdicts handed down so far in the trials of those responsible for the blasts -- considered the worst terrorist strike since the September 11 attacks a year earlier. There are still eight suspects waiting to hear their verdicts, while judges are preparing the trial of four other suspects.

"The defendant is also guilty of withholding information on terrorism," presiding Judge IB Jagra said of Sukastopo.

Jagra said, Sukastopo had information on the whereabouts of Ali Imron -- one of the main suspects -- but had failed to report it to the local authorities.

Remorseful Imron was sentenced to life imprisonment last month, while his brothers Amrozi and Ali Gufron, and the other main suspect Abdul Aziz alias Imam Samudra will face the firing squad.

After consulting his lawyer, Sukastopo told the panel of judges that he would not challenge the verdict.

"The defendant indeed feels guilty about failing to notify the authorities of the information he had. He has been in custody for almost a year so he will have to serve the rest of his sentence," Sukastopo's lawyer Suyanto said.

In a separate trial, presiding judge Tjokorda Rai Suamba sentenced Sukastopo's son Eko Hadi to four years in jail for a similar offense.

The judges said Eko Hadi, a senior high school student, was found guilty of helping Puryanto to find a hiding place for Imron and another suspect Mubarok on the isolated island of Berukang in East Kalimantan.

Meanwhile, Puryanto bin Timin alias Hartono was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for allowing Imron and Mubarok to take refuge in his house.

The sentencing of another accomplice, Mujarot, was postponed until Monday.

Both Eko Hadi and Puryanto said they needed more time before deciding whether to accept or appeal the sentences.

Separately, the lawyers of Amrozi submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court over his death sentence which has been upheld by the Bali High Court.

The appeal was filed with the Denpasar District Court.

Amrozi was convicted in August by the court for having purchased one ton of bomb-making chemicals and the van used to carry the deadliest of the two bombs.

In the appeal, Amrozi's lawyers said their client was guilty only of possessing the explosive materials but not of having helped plan the bombings.

The persistent appeal attempts seem to contradict Amrozi's expression of his readiness to die. Upon hearing his verdict the mechanic literally gave two thumbs up to the death sentence imposed on him.

Two other convicted bombers Samudra and Ali Gufron have also appealed their death sentences, while Imron has asked for the President's clemency.