Witnesses say defendants help built bombs

Witnesses say defendants help built bombs

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi

Two witnesses at the Makassar bomb trial testified on Thursday
that they saw defendants Lukman Husain and Usman Nur Affan making
a pipe they allegedly used in last year's bombing, which killed
three people.

The two defendants assembled the iron pipe at the automotive
repair shop, which was run by another defendant, Masnur,
witnesses Hanafi and Muhammad Ilyas said. The two witnesses are
employees at the repair shop.

Hanafi said the pipe, which was shown to him, was actually
his. "It's true, judge, it (the pipe) belonged to me. I made it
myself as a money box," he said during the trial of Lukman at the
Makassar District Court.

He added that Lukman, who also worked at the repair shop,
assembled a similar pipe. Prosecutors believe the bombers used
the pipe to stash the bomb inside.

Three people died and 11 others were injured in the bomb
explosion inside a McDonald's outlet in the South Sulawesi
capital of Makassar on Dec. 5 last year.

Another blast also ripped apart a car dealership owned by
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla.

Police believe the attackers are affiliated to the Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) group, a clandestine militant organization that
reportedly aims to establish a Southeast Asian Islamic state.
Members of JI are also suspected of masterminding the Bali bomb
blast, which killed more than 202 people in October last year.

Twelve defendants in connection with the Makassar bombing have
been put on trial so far. The first trial involving five
defendants began on June 9. The defendants in the first batch are
Masnur, Ilham Riyadi, Anton, Haerul, and Muhammad Tang (alias
Itang).

The trial of the second batch began on June 13, involving
seven defendants, namely Hamid Abdul Razzaq, Imal Hamid, Suryadi
Mas'ud, Kaharruddin Mustafa, Muchtar Daeng Lau, Lukman Husain and
Usman Nur Affan. Police have deployed 450 officers to guard the
trial.

During the trial on Thursday, prosecutors presented a number
of pieces of evidence, which police confiscated when they raided
Masnur's repair shop.

Among the items were pieces of the pipe, measuring some 10
centimeters long with a diameter of 5 centimeters. Other evidence
includes a homemade rifle, cables and parts believed to be used
to assemble the rifle.

Witness Muhammad said he too saw the pipes being made, adding
that Lukman also built a homemade rifle. "I saw the defendant
assembling a rifle like that one," he said pointing at the
homemade rifle.

Hanafi's and Muhammad's testimonies came after they claimed
that police had beaten them and forced them to sign their witness
statements without reading them first.

During the hearing, both looked nervous and at first denied
their statements in the dossiers.

Muhammad's testimony that he saw Lukman assembling the rifle
came after the judges reminded him to tell the truth.

The trial of Lukman will continue on Thursday next week.