Man gets 10 years for embassy bombing

Man gets 10 years for embassy bombing

Agencies, Jakarta

The last of six Muslim militants accused in the 2004 suicide bombing at the Australian Embassy was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison for helping the alleged masterminds carry out the attack.

Syaiful Bahri, alias Apuy, said he would appeal the verdict. The sentence was in line with prosecutors' recommendations.

The South Jakarta District Court found him guilty of violating antiterrorism laws in the suicide bombing last September that left 11 people dead and more than 180 injured in the business district of Kuningan, South Jakarta.

"The defendant is legally and convincingly guilty of violating antiterror laws by helping others commit acts of terrorism," chief judge Sutjahyo Padmo said when reading out the verdict.

The judge said Bahri, 26, was guilty of "providing assistance" to Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M. Top, who are both wanted over the Sept. 9, 2004 attack.

Padmo said evidence and testimonies proved that Bahri helped Azahari and Noordin find a safe house, as well as helped purchase, store and prepare materials for the bomb.

The defendant also helped load the 30 plastic containers of explosives into a small van, which exploded just outside the embassy.

The two Malaysian fugitives, Azahari and Noordin, are accused of playing key roles for the al-Qaeda-linked regional terrorist group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) in a string of terror attacks in Indonesia, including the Australian Embassy bombing.

The two main suspects were also blamed for the October 2002 Bali bombings, which left 202 people dead -- mostly foreign tourists, and the August 2003 J.W. Marriott Hotel blast in Jakarta, in which 12 people were killed.

Bahri was the last of six Indonesians to have faced trial over the suicide car bombing outside the heavily fortified embassy.

Two other suspects, Achmad Hasan and Iwan Darmawan Mutho alias Rois, have been sentenced to death, while three others have already been given sentences ranging from 42 months to seven years' imprisonment over the attack.

Judges ruled there was enough evidence to convict Rois because he told police that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had funded the attack.