A court in Indonesia has sentenced a man to life in jail for the bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in 2002, which left three people dead. The man, Agung Abdul Hamid, was found guilty of financing and co-ordinating the attack, which took place in Makassar, in South Sulawesi. Prosecutors had asked Makassar's district court for the death penalty.
The bombing occurred on 5 December 2002, just weeks after the Bali attacks that killed more than 200 people. Chief judge Andi Haedar said Hamid was "legally and convincingly guilty of planning or inciting other people to carry out an act of terrorism that resulted in casualties and destruction of public facilities." Prosecutors said he had paid other people to take part in the attacks, and illegally possessed firearms and explosives. Hamid insisted he was innocent, and said he would appeal the verdict. "I reject the sentence because all these charges are false," he told the Associated Press. "The trial is engineered, and full of American intervention."
Hamid was arrested on the island of Java last October, after being on the run from the Indonesian authorities for almost two years. Police claim he has links to the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiah, which has been blamed for several attacks in Indonesia, including the Bali bombings. |