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Bali: 4th suspect on trial
21/07/2003 11:42 - (SA)
Denpasar - An Indonesian who has admitted building one of the Bali bombs which slaughtered scores of Western holidaymakers went on trial on Monday on four terrorism charges.
Ali Imron, the fourth key suspect to stand trial and the only one to express remorse, faces a main charge of planning acts of terrorism "to cause a massive number of victims". He could face a firing squad if convicted.
Imron, whose age was given as 33, admits being a member of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group.
Police say the group staged the attack on two crowded nightspots, which killed 202 people last October 12, to avenge Western oppression of Muslims in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Imron's elder brothers Amrozi and Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, have already gone on trial along with the alleged field commander of the Bali attack, Imam Samudra.
Unlike them Imron appeared in court clean-shaven, wearing a suit and tie amd minus Islamic headgear.
Prosecutors in the resort island began reading a 20-page indictment against Imron, whose occupation is given as Islamic boarding school teacher and who learnt warfare skills in Afghanistan.
Imron has already admitted helping assemble a van bomb which tore apart the Sari Club and caused most of the deaths; planting another bomb outside the US consulate which exploded harmlessly; giving instructions to two suicide bombers and driving the van close to the club.
The boyish-looking suspect demonstrated a bizarre mixture of pride in his work and remorse for its deadly consequences when he recreated the bomb-making procedure for police and reporters in February.
"Our target was America and its allies because they are the international terrorists," he said at the time.
"We should be proud of the capability of our group as sons of the Indonesian nation. The mistake that needs to be pointed out is the way we apply it," he added.
Imron apologised during that reconstruction "to the families of the victims, especially Indonesians, and also those from abroad".
The indictment says Imron, with 10 other suspects including Mukhlas, planned and prepared the attack between August and October last year.
It says he attended several planning meetings, visited Bali in September to survey the targets and helped transport bomb-making chemicals to the island.
Imron is accused of helping a fugitive Malaysian called Dr Azahari to build the Sari Club bomb.
"The defendant together with Azahari, alias Alan, assembled the bomb inside platic boxes," the indictment says. It consisted of chemicals, TNT, a detonating cord and detonator and a battery.
Apart from Imron and Azahari, the makers of the three bombs are named as three Indonesians who are still on the run - Dulmatin, Abdul Ghoni alias Umar Besar and Patek alias Umar Kecil.
The indictment says Imron, together with a man called Idris who was arrested in June, taught a suicide bomber named Feri alias Isa how to detonate an explosives-stuffed vest which he wore into Paddy's Bar.
They also taught a man called Arnasan alias Jimi how to use a link box between the batteries and the detonator to blow up the van bomb. Arnasan also died in the blast.
The trial was continuing.
- AFX
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