Indonesian Bombers Get Sentenced

By Kenneth Conboy

There was a flurry of judicial activity in Indonesia this week as several terrorists received varying prison sentences. Among them:

* Mohammad Cholily was given an 18-year sentence for assisting with the Bali II bombings in October 2005. Cholily was hardly repentent, calling his sentence "the sweetest birthday present ever." He was found guilty of purchasing batteries, digital timers, and other materials to make 21 bombs under the guidance of the late Jemaah Islamiyah bomb expert Azhari Husein.

* Abdul Aziz, 30, was given an 8-year sentence for his role in the Bali II bombings. Aziz was described as polite and behaved at his trial.

* Dwi Widiarto was also jailed for 8 years for transferring footage from a camcorder showing fugitive JI mastermind Noordin Top making a fiery speech (in which he threatened nationals from the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and Italy). Widiarto knew Top was a fugitive and had advance knowledge of the Bali II bombings, but did not inform the authorities.

In other news:

* A police officer in Solo was arrested on 5 September for deserting his post three years ago. He allegedly acted as a paramilitary instructor for radicals under Noordin Top.

* The police made progress in the laptop scandal involving convicted JI bomber Imam Samudra. Samudra is on death row for his involvement in the 2002 Bali bombing that took 200 lives. Last month it was revealed that a laptop was smuggled to him in 2005 while in prison on Bali. On 28 August, the police arrested a prison guard, Beny Irawan, who reportedly delivered the laptop. It is now known that Samudra frequently visited a chatroom called "cafeislam" where he communicated with an as-yet unknown sympathizer the police have dubbed "Mister X." Another suspect, Agung Setyadi, has already been arrested for purchasing the laptop on Samudra's behalf. The police have backtracked from the earlier claim that Samudra was in touch with those planning the Bali II bombing, but they have yet to piece together exactly who he contacted and what he discussed.

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