JSX bomber 'framed'

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)