Samudra's classmate looking at nine years

Samudra's classmate looking at nine years

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

The prosecution in the trial of a former classmate of convicted
Bali bomber Iman Samudra requested a nine-year jail term for the
defendant on Thursday.

Prosecutor Made Jaya Ardana told the Denpasar District Court
that Heri Hafidin alias Munawar, 33, was guilty of aiding and
harboring Abdul Aziz alias Imam Samudra, a known and wanted
terrorist.

The prosecutor also pointed out that the defendant had
provided the court with confusing and inconsistent testimony
during the trial.

"The suspect has failed to cooperate during the trial. He also
showed no remorse for his past actions. I would therefore request
the court to consider these as compounding factors counting
against the defendant," Jaya Ardana said.

He said the defendant had assisted Samudra and his family to
find a place to hide after the Oct. 12, 2002, bombings. This was
a rented house in a housing complex in Banten province.

Samudra was the principal planner and field coordinator of the
terror attacks, which killed at least 202 people, the majority of
whom were foreigners. He was sentenced to death and had his
appeal rejected by the Bali High Court.

"At that time, the defendant knew that Samudra was one of
those who perpetrated the bombings but he did not notify the
authorities," Jaya Ardana said.

The defendant was a classmate of Samudra's when they studied
together in 1988 at the Madrasah Aliyah Negeri I Islamic senior
high school in Serang.

Presiding judge Nur Hasanah gave the defendant 11 days to
prepare his response to the prosecution's sentence request.

To date, the Denpasar District Court has convicted 29 people
of involvement in the Bali bombings, three of whom have been
sentenced to death. Currently, four suspects are still on trial.

Separately, the president of the Denpasar District Court, I
Nengah Suriada, said he had not yet received a copy of the
Supreme Court's verdict rejecting the appeal by Amrozi, who was
also convicted of the bombings and was sentenced to death.

But Amrozi's Muslim Lawyers Team attorney, Miftachul Ichwan
Al-Anur, said he and his colleagues were looking for new evidence
to support their move to seek a Supreme Court review of his
client's conviction.

He said Amrozi had agreed to pursue all available legal
recourses, including seeking a presidential pardon.