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.