Observers laud life sentence for Bali bomber

Observers laud life sentence for Bali bomber

Associated Press, Jakarta

A day after a Muslim radical who testified against his fellow defendants in the Bali bombing trials was sentenced to life imprisonment, observers said the ruling will help shield Indonesia against criticism that it had faltered in its anti- terrorism campaign.

The sentence for Ali Imron came somewhat as a surprise, since prosecutors had asked for a lighter term, of 20 years, because of his assistance to investigators.

The five-judge panel ruled that Imron's cooperation had to be balanced against the severity of the Oct. 12 nightclub attack on Indonesia's Bali island in which 202 people were killed, most of them foreign tourists.

Peter Hughes, an Australian who was injured in the bombing but was not in court, said he was satisfied because Imron took responsibility for his actions and apologized.

"It's very fair because he has been a little helpful," he said. "The most outspoken and totally arrogant ones deserve what they are getting - the death sentence. But those, like Imron, who stand up and say they are sorry and remorseful deserve life."

Imron's older brother, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, and the mastermind of the attacks, Imam Samudra, have already been sentenced to death. Both have repeatedly chastised the West and defended the bombings as necessary to avenge the treatment of Muslims at the hands of the United States and Israel.

So far, 10 people have been convicted in the blasts, out of 35 arrested.

The attacks have been blamed on Jamaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida- linked network of militants operating throughout Southeast Asia. Indonesia came under fire earlier this month when a Jakarta court sentenced Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to only four years in prison for sedition and acquitted him of heading Jemaah Islamiyah.

"I think the judges are determined to show they are taking these cases extremely seriously," said Sidney Jones, a terrorism expert and the Indonesian project director for the International Crisis Group. "Perhaps, the judges wanted to show toughness." But Jones and others also said Imron's life sentence allows for the possibility it could be reduced in the coming years - possibly by a ruling political party that wanted to win votes from conservative Muslims.