Men tried for hiding terrorist suspects

Men tried for hiding terrorist suspects

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

The Denpasar District Court on Monday commenced the trial of two
people charged with hiding key suspects in the Bali bombings
while they were fugitives.

Prosecutors said in their indictment that defendants Heri
Hafidin and Ahmad Roichan harbored and withheld information on
known and wanted terrorist suspects.

The charges carry a maximum 15-year jail sentence under Law
No. 15/2003 on antiterrorism.

Prosecutor Made Jaya Ardana disclosed that on Nov. 11 and Nov.
12, 2002, one month after the bloody Bali bombings that killed
202 people, Hafidin picked up his high school classmate, Abdul
Aziz, alias Imam Samudra, in Leui Panjang bus terminal in
Bandung.

He later drove Samudra to the Griya Serdang Indah housing
complex in Serang, Banten, where he helped Samudra secure a
rented house there.

"The defendant knew that Samudra was a wanted fugitive but he
deliberately did not notify authorities. By helping Samudra get
the house the defendant is being charged with harboring, and for
his failure to notify authorities he is being charged with
withholding information," Jaya Ardana told the panel of judges
presided over by Nurul Hasanah.

At one point, according to the prosecutor, Samudra told
Hafidin about his involvement in the bombings.

Samudra has been sentenced to death for his role in the bomb
attack.

In a separate trial, prosecutor Ketut Eka Swara told the court
how the defendant Ahmad Roichan helped Ali Gufron, alias
Mukhlas, evade police in the weeks after the bombings.

The prosecutor said that on Oct. 17, 2002, just five days
after the bombings, the defendant and Mukhlas attended a meeting
in Tawangmangu, Surakarta, to discuss, among other things, the
performance of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network, and necessary
arrangements to find a hide-out for Ali Gufron.

Both Roichan and Mukhlas are JI members.

"In the same month, the defendant harbored Ali Gufron in a
house at the village of Sayangan Kulon, Laweyan, Surakarta. He
also referred Gufron to a rented house belonging to Abu Dujana,"
Eka Swara said.

Moreover, the police also seized 193 live rounds of ammunition
of various calibers from the defendant.

"Thus, we also charge the defendant with illegal possession of
firearms and explosives," he said. The crime carries a maximum
penalty of death according to the Emergency Law No. 12/1951,

Roichan first met Mukhlas in Afghanistan in 1984.

Mukhlas has been sentenced to death in relation to the
bombing.

Both Samudra and Mukhlas have appealed their death sentences,
as has the other key convict on death row, Amrozi.

In the first phase of the trials, all 29 defendants were
convicted with the majority receiving prison sentences of between
three years and life imprisonment.

The trials of remaining suspects Abdul Ghoni, alias Umar and
Wayan, and Syawad, alias Sarjiyo, will start next week.