Makassar, Bali terror accomplices get jail sentences

Makassar, Bali terror accomplices get jail sentences

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post,
Denpasar/Makassar

Denpasar and Makassar district courts sentenced three accomplices
of terror attacks in separate trials on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, a remorseful Ali Imron, sentenced to life in
prison last week for helping plot and execute attacks on Bali in
October last year, has decided not to appeal against the verdict.

In the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, the Makassar
District Court sentenced defendant Imal Hamid to six years in
prison for his role in the bombing of a McDonald's restaurant and
NV Hadji Kalla car showroom there last December.

Presiding judge Siti Muzainah said that Imal was found guilty
under the antiterrorism law of concealing information related to
the terrorist act that had killed three people and injured dozens
of others. The jail sentence was below the 10-year jail term
demanded by the prosecutor.

In her verdict, Muzainah said that Imal had failed to report
to security authorities about explosive materials stored at his
house in Garessi village, Barru regency, South Sulawesi.

The materials were stored in the house's toilet by his elder
brother, Agung Abdul Hamid, the main suspect in the McDonald's
bombing. Agung is still at large.

Muzainah said that Imal knew that the materials were used to
detonate the bomb at the McDonald's outlet in Makassar, but he
never reported the fact to the police.

Upon hearing the verdict, Imal said he would file an appeal,
insisting that he did not know that the materials were
explosives.

The 35-year-old Imal is the second among 16 suspects charged
with links to the Dec. 5, 2002 bombings of the McDonald's outlet
and NV Hadji Kalla car showroom.

Last month, the Makassar District Court sentenced another bomb
accomplice, Suryadi, to seven years in jail for illegally storing
weapons and hiding some of the bomb suspects.

In separate trials at the Makassar District Court, prosecutors
demanded that four other accomplices in the McDonald's blast be
sentenced to between five and 20 years in prison. They were Hamid
Razzaq (the father of Agung Abdul Hamid), Ilham Riadi, Masnur bin
Abdul Latif and Anton bin Labasse.

Meanwhile, in Bali, the Denpasar District Court sentenced two
Bali bombing accomplices to four and six years in jail for their
roles in the October Bali bombings last year that killed more
than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.

The court found that the two defendants, Ahmad Budi Wibowo and
Herlambang, were guilty of violating the antiterrorism law by
assisting and harboring suspects involved in the deadly bombings
of two nightspots in Kuta.

Presiding judge Nyoman Gede Wirya said that Wibowo was found
guilty of harboring Hernianto, another suspect in the Bali
bombings.

In a separate trial, the same district court also found that
Herlambang was guilty of helping Mukhlas, a main defendant in the
Bali bombings, and Hernianto to find a house to rent. This house
was used by the two terrorist suspects to hide from authorities
in the aftermath of the Bali attacks.

Indonesian police have detained more than 30 people, including
several key suspects, in connection with the Bali bombings.

Wibowo and Herlambang are the latest defendants in the Bali
case to be convicted. Previously, the Denpasar district court has
handed down verdicts to several defendants, including two main
defendants, Amrozi and Imam Samudra, who were sentenced to death.

In a separate development, convicted Bali bomber Ali Imron
said that he would not appeal a life sentence handed to him last
week, saying that he accepted the verdict whole-heartedly.