Terror suspect Gun Gun stands trial for terrorism charges
Terror suspect Gun Gun stands trial for terrorism charges
Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta
The Central Jakarta District Court kicked off on Monday the trial
of Rusman Gunawan, alias Gun Gun, on charges of involvement in
the JW Marriot Hotel bombing in Jakarta last year as well as
training Muslim hardliners to commit crimes.
Prosecutor Payaman told the court Gun Gun helped his brother,
terror mastermind Riduan Ishamuddin, alias Hambali, transfer
US$50,000. That money was reportedly used to fund the bomb attack
on the hotel on Aug. 5, 2003, which claimed 12 lives.
Payaman said Hambali asked Gun Gun to contact a friend named
Amar al-Baluchi between December 2002 and February 2003, asking
him to send $12,000. Later Hambali raised the amount to $50,000.
Gun Gun was also accused of leading al-Ghuraba, a study group
of Indonesian and Malaysian students in Karachi, Pakistan, who
conducted terrorist-related activities.
In December 1999, Gun Gun began studying at the Abu Bakar
Islamic University in Karachi, where he then met fellow
Indonesian Abdul Rahim, a son of cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the
alleged leader of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terrorist
organization.
Abdul and Gun Gun lived together in Pakistan.
Hambali -- during a telephone communication -- told Gun Gun to
trust Abdul, the prosecutor said.
Gun Gun and Abdul, with the consent of Hambali, then
established al-Ghuraba. The group's main purpose was to produce
militants.
"Militants were to protect Islam from, among other things,
enemies such as Jews, Communists and the United States, with
whatever means available, including suicide bombings," Payaman
said.
Between June and July 2000, again upon Hambali's orders, Gun
Gun took part in military training at the al-Faruq Camp in
Afghanistan, where he was trained to operate guns such as the AK-
47, the American-made M-16, the Israeli-made UZI and the Soviet-
made Makarov.
He also was trained to conduct undercover missions and work
with explosives.
If convicted, Gun Gun, who also used the aliases Abdul Hadi,
Abdul Karima and Bukhori, could get the death penalty if found
guilty under the antiterrorism law.
He was arrested in Karachi in September 2003, within weeks of
Hambali's capture in Thailand, along with 13 Malaysians, another
Indonesian and two Myanmarese students.
He was later deported to Indonesia together with five other
Indonesian colleagues in December 2003. They were immediately
detained by the police, but two of them -- Ilham Sofyandi and
David Pintarto -- were released due to lack of evidence.
The two others are Mohammad Syaifudin and Furqon Abdullah,
both of whom are standing trial for alleged terrorist activities.
Hambali, is believed to be al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's
point man in Southeast Asia. He has been in U.S. custody since
his capture.
Gun Gun admitted he was the closest to Hambali among his other
12 siblings. "My brother is a silent, introverted person," added
Gun Gun.
Appearing in light blue Muslim-style attire, Hambali's brother
looked calm and smiled a lot. One of the key leaders of
Ba'asyir's Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI) Fauzan al-Anshari
was among Gun Gun's supporters at the trial.