Second militant sentenced to death

Second militant sentenced to death

Agencies, Jakarta

The South Jakarta District Court sentenced on Wednesday a second militant to death for helping plot the deadly bomb attack on the Australian Embassy here last year.

Achmad Mohammad Hasan joins Iwan Darmawan Mutho, alias Rois, who was convicted by the same court on Tuesday, on death row. Three other suspects have been jailed for between 3.5 and seven years.

The main suspects in the bombing, Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Moh. Top, who have also been implicated in previous major bombings in Bali and Jakarta, are still at large. These attacks in Bali and Jakarta have been blamed by authorities on the Jamaah Islamiyah regional terrorist network, which is allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.

The panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court found that Achmad sheltered the attack's alleged masterminds -- Azahari and Noordin -- and helped assemble the bomb.

Achmad also surveyed the embassy before the attack and gave Azahari a lift from the scene of the bombing on a motorbike, the judges said.

"The defendant has shown no remorse at all for his action," judge Achmad Sobari said. "Your actions cannot be forgiven because they were undertaken in the name of Islam but they actually hurt Islam. They were savage and lacking in all humanity."

The bombing on Sept. 9, 2004, killed 12 people.

Achmad's lawyers said they were considering appealing the verdict. They said the sentence was unfair and was handed down amid a war on terror that had discredited Islam.

The indictment against Achmad, an employee of an agriculture agency, said he had picked up Azahari on his motorcycle after the Malaysian parked a bomb-laden truck near the embassy that was later set off by the suicide bomber.

Before the attack, it said, Achmad exchanged A$10,000 (US$7,700) at a money changer at the request of Noordin. It was not clear what the money was used for.

Prosecutors also said Achmad trained the suicide bomber, Heri Golun, alias Igun, to drive a car.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in a statement after the verdict against Achmad was announced that the death sentence reflected "the abhorrence felt in all countries for terrorists and those who support them in their terrible crimes".

Achmad said the verdict was a result of pressure from the United States, which has publicly supported the struggle against terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

"This was engineered (by the U.S.) and I pray that the judges repent," he told reporters outside the court. "So long as Muslims are oppressed they will retaliate."