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.