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January 11, 2006
Indonesia: Trial Of Another Suspected Islamist Begins
AFP via News.com.au and the Jakarta Post states today that another person has today gone on trial in Indonesia, on terrorism charges, bringing the total number currently in court on terror charges to eleven.
34-year old Joko Tri Priyanto is accused of giving 350,000 rupiah ($50 Australian, $37 US) to Ahmad Rofiq Ridho in August 2004. Ridho is one of those currently on trial in South Jakarta, whose trial began on January 2.
Priyanto's indictment says Ridho used the money to "provide accomodation and a hideaway" to Noordin Mohamed Top the Jemaah Islamiyah financier and recruiter, currently on the run following the Bali bombings of Oct 1, 2005.
At a district court in South Jakarta, it is claimed that Priyanto allowed Ridho to use his motorcycle to ferry Noordin Top. Chief prosecutor Roberth Tacoy said: "The defendant ... knew Noordin Mohammad Top was a perpetrator of terrorism sought by police but he and his colleagues helped him to hide."
If found guilty, Priyanto could be sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Ridho is the brother of Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi (pictured, right) who was killed in a gunfight with police in the Philippines on Oct 12, 2003, after breaking out of a Filipino jail and going on the run for 13 weeks. Ridho, as well as being charged for failing to disclose the whereabouts of Noordin Top, is further accused of surveying potential bomb targets in East Java. These included a Christian school and a plush hotel.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta Post reports that an appeals court has upheld the death sentences handed out to Iwan Darmawan and Mohamad Hasan for their roles in the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, which took place on Thursday Sept 9, 2004, killing 11 and wounding more than 200.
We reported on 30-year old Iwan Darmawan's conviction on September 14.
The Jakarta Post quotes Darmawan and Hasan's lawyer, Mahendradatta, who says the appeals were rejected last week, but he had not received a full copy of the verdict. Appeals processes are held "in camera" in Indonesia. The two are expected to be now taking their appeal to the Supreme Court.
And just to show Indonesia is a democracy unlike any in the West - the Jakarta Post reports that East Timor, which Indonesia invaded in December 1975 and caused the deaths of hundreds of islanders as they fought to be rid of their unwanted "rulers", has just banned three films about East Timor. The illegal Indonesian invasion came just 9 days after East Timor declared independence from its Portugese exploiters on November 28 1975.
The films, one animation and two documentaries, were to be shown at a festival in December in Jakarta, but Titie Said, the censor, said: ""We feared the films might 'reopen old wounds' at a time when a bridge of friendship is being built between East Timor and Indonesia,"
This is the first time films have been completely banned since 1999 and the final days of the tyrant Suharto. If Indonesia cannot acknowledge the truth of what it did in East Timor, which was both illegal and immoral, then I wish the US would stop pretending Indonesia is a true democracy. It may now be an ally in the war on terror, but that does not absolve it of guilt in its treatment of its minority faiths and minority indigenous peoples.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 11, 2006 6:54 AM
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