Students set to stand trial over terrorism charges
Students set to stand trial over terrorism charges
P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office is ready to indict four
Indonesian students deported from Pakistan in December 2003 for
their alleged roles in financing and providing training for
terrorist activities.
The prosecutor's office Spokesman Haryono told The Jakarta
Post on Tuesday it had received completed dossiers of the four
suspects from the National Police Headquarters last Thursday.
"The dossiers are ready to support their indictment and
trials. We are currently finishing their indictment documents,"
said Haryono.
The four terrorist suspects awaiting trial are Rusman Gunawan
alias Gun Gun, Mohammad Syaifudin, Ilham Sofyandi, and Furqon
Abdullah.
According to Haryono, the four would be charged under articles
11, 13, and 16 of Law No.15/2002 on Antiterrorism. Furqon
Abdullah and Ilham Sofyandi would also be charged under Article
263 of the Criminal Law on document forgery.
National Police Anti-Terror Division chief Brig. Gen. Pranowo
earlier said the four students had helped and supported terror
suspects with funds and training.
One of the students, Gun Gun admitted during a preliminary
interrogation in Pakistan on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 that he had sent
telecommunications equipment and US$50,000 to his older brother
Hambali, an Indonesian-born terrorist suspect who has been in the
custody of the U.S. authorities since Aug. 2003.
Hambali is believed to be the leader of the Southeast Asian
regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which has been
blamed for the Oct. 2002 Bali blasts and the Aug. 2003 attack on
the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.
According to National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko D.
Ardanto the four students were among six students deported by the
government of Pakistan on Dec. 11, 2003.
Pakistani authorities arrested Mohamad Syaifudin, Ilham
Sofyandi, David Pintarto, Furqon Abdullah, Muhammad Anwar As-
Shadaqqi and Rusman Gunawan, alias Gun Gun, in early September
2003 in Karachi for their alleged involvement in terrorist
activities.
Soenarko said that due to a lack of evidence, police finally
released David Pintarto and M. Anwar As-Shadaqqi, on Dec. 17.
Meanwhile, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a suspect of various terror
attacks across the country who has alleged links with JI,
complained police only had one thought on their minds, putting
him back in prison.
"In my case, I feel that power speaks louder than law. It
doesn't matter whether the accusation can be proven or not, but
as long as they can put me back in jail then that's that,"
Ba'asyir told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview on
Tuesday.
Ba'asyir also called the fear expressed by the U.S. and
Australia upon his release on April 30 "somewhat funny". He added
both countries were only afraid of the sharia movement.
Habib Hussein Al-Habsyi, the chairman of the Indonesian Muslim
Brotherhood (IMI) said after visiting Ba'asyir the intervention
of the U.S. and Australia had brought Indonesia's sovereignty
into question.
"America was trying to put pressure on the National Police by
aiding them with military equipment, so that the police would
feel like giving something in return by putting Uztad (Ba'asyir)
in jail," he added.