JSX bomber 'framed'

JAKARTA (JP): The owner of a car repair shop who is facing a possible death sentence for the bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange building told the court on Wednesday that he was a scapegoat and had been framed.

"I wonder why I was chosen to become a scapegoat and made to suffer by being framed by the joint investigators of the city (and military) police?" Tengku Ismuhadi Jafar said in his defense statement.

The 30-year-old man, who admitted that he was an Acehnese activist, told the South Jakarta District Court that he was innocent.

He said that the charges were based on dossiers that were made under coercion.

Prosecutor Endang Rachwan asked the court last week to sentence Jafar to death as he was proven guilty of masterminding the bombing.

The prosecutor also demanded a life sentence for Jafar's employee, Nuryadin, alias Nadin, 29, for his alleged role in the case.

Nuryadin escaped from prison last month.

Ten people were killed and 46 others injured when a strong blast rocked the JSX building on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, on Sept. 13, 2000.

According to the prosecutor, Jafar planned the bombing to shake the economic stability in the country. Jafar had also taken advantage of the situation as he had bought dollars just prior to the incident only to sell them again as the dollar rate rocketed following the bombing.

Jafar also said on Wednesday that the prosecutor's allegation that he had planned the bombing during the afternoon of Sept. 8 in his repair shop in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, was totally wrong as at that time, he was in Singapore for business purposes. (06)