INDONESIA: An Indonesian court yesterday sentenced to death the main militant on trial over last year's suicide car bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta. The bombing, the chief judge said, was financed by Osama bin Laden.
Rois, also known as Iwan Dharmawan, told reporters he was innocent of the attack that killed 10 Indonesians, but said he still welcomed the death sentence and would die a martyr.
Prosecutors had accused Rois of working with the masterminds of the attack, Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M Top - both fugitives and said by police to be senior members of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network.
Rois (30) bought the vehicle and other materials used in the bombing and recruited the driver who drove the car to the Australian embassy fence, prosecutors had said. "We declare the defendant carried out cumulative acts, from participating in a terror crime, to intentionally hiding the suspects of terror crimes," presiding judge Roki Panjaitan told the South Jakarta District Court.
"The operational funds for the bombing came from Top. The money was sent . . . by Osama bin Laden. The total cost was $10,000."
It was the first time the court linked the bombing to bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. Mr Panjaitan said the attack was in response to Australia's support of American policies in the Muslim world.
Rois stood up waving a fist in the air and shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) after the verdict. - (Reuters)