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Key suspect regrets Bali attack
13/08/2003 10:38 - (SA)
Denpasar - A key suspect in the bloody Bali nightclub bombings said on Wednesday he regretted the attack "even though the victims were mostly white people".
Ali Imron, who admits helping build the bomb which devastated the Sari Club, is the only one of the main suspects to have expressed remorse for foreign victims.
His elder brother, Amrozi, was last Thursday convicted and sentenced to death for the October 12 attack.
The bombing, blamed on the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, killed 164 foreigners - including 88 Australians - and 38 Indonesians.
Police say JI's motive was to avenge Western oppression of Muslims in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Imron, testifying in the trial of another Bali suspect Mubarok alias Hutomo Pamungkas, said a remark by Mubarok while they were both on the run made him question his actions.
He quoted Mubarok as saying: "Something like that (the bombing) is wrong and it is only right that you are now being sought."
"That remark then made me start to think," Imron told the court.
He added: "Frankly, I do regret it because even though the victims were mostly 'bules' (whites), it was still wrong."
Imron, 33, said he had met Mubarok in East Kalimantan on Borneo island where they fled after the bombings. They and several other suspects were arrested in January on an island off East Kalimantan while apparently preparing to flee to Malaysia.
Imron said Mubarok had only taken part in the bombing because "he had been invited to go to Bali by Amrozi."
Amrozi purchased the chemicals to make the bombs and the van used for the Sari Club bomb.
Imron and other key suspects, including another brother Mukhlas and Mubarok, could also face death if convicted.
Apart from helping make one bomb, Imron is accused of attending planning sessions and of teaching a suicide bomber how to detonate an explosives-stuffed vest.
Mubarok is accused of allowing his bank account to be used for fund transfers for the bombings and taking part in meetings and trips to Bali to prepare the attack.
Imron told the court that Amrozi had invited Mubarok to keep him company while he was taking the van from East Java to Bali.
He also said a third bomb which exploded harmlessly near the US consulate seconds after the nightclub blasts was not part of the original plan.
"The main target had not been the American consulate general at the time. That was only to make use of the remaining (explosive) material," said Imron, who is accused of planting the consulate bomb which was triggered by mobile phone.
The court also heard testimony from four other witnesses, including two victims of the blasts. Mubarok's trial resumes on Thursday.
- AFP
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