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| Southeast Asia |
| Bali bomber 'planned attack online from jail' |
| 2006-08-23 |
| ONE of the 2002 Bali bombers used a laptop smuggled to him in jail to help organise the triple suicide blasts that rocked the resort island last year, Indonesian police said today. Police say Imam Samudra used a laptop with a wireless connection smuggled into his prison cell to chat with Islamic militants and raise money for last year's October 1 blasts at Kuta and Jimbaran Bay, which killed 20 innocent bystanders, including four Australians. “Imam Samudra ... directed the fund-raising for the second Bali bombing,” the national police chief of the cyber crime unit, Petrus Golose, said in Jakarta. “The laptop allowed Imam Samudra to chat without restrictions in Ahlussunnah and CafeIslam chatrooms,” he said referring to religious chatrooms. “This took place before the second Bali bombing.” He did not say whether the militant used a mobile phone to connect to the internet. Imam Samudra and two other militants, Amrozi and Ali Gufron, have been on death row for more than two years after courts convicted them of playing leading roles in the October 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. While they were in prison, suicide bombings ripped through three restaurants in Bali last October. Golose said the information was obtained after police arrested two men this month who ran a website to raise funds for attacks through online credit card fraud. One of the men smuggled a laptop to Samudra with the help of a prison official at the request of Noordin Top, Southeast Asia's number one fugitive and the master bomb maker for the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI). Samudra, Ghufron and Amrozi have since been transferred to an island prison off the southern coast of Java island, where they await executions. The attorney general's office said this week the executions of the three men had been delayed, citing a judicial review planned by defence lawyers. In an interview aired on Indonesian television ANTV today, Ghufron said his one regret was that he only has one life to surrender in the pursuit of jihad. Ghufron said he was proud to have been among those brave enough to carry out the 2002 Bali bombings, which he said were a payback aimed at the United States. Asked why he chose to join the deadly plot, Ghufron told Indonesian television ANTV: “Why? Because America invades Indonesia in all aspects. “Economically, culturally, all been invaded. We, thank God, are the ones (who) came out to be brave.” In the interview, recorded before the executions were delayed, Ghufron said he wished he had more lives to give up in the pursuit of jihad, or holy war. “If only I had life as the number of my hair, then I want each one of it be put to death,” he said. “I come back alive again, make another jihad and be put to death again, then back alive again and I want it that way. “But, life is only one, so ... just surrender to it.” None of the three condemned convicts have expressed remorse over their roles in the 2002 attacks. Their appeal will be based on a constitutional court ruling that anti-terror laws introduced soon after the bombings, and which were used to convict the three, could not be applied retroactively. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #4 Imam Samudra and two other militants, Amrozi and Ali Gufron, have been on death row for more than two years PS: I don't recall any third world country having such a lengthy delay in executing its convicted murderers. Perhaps lobbing a JDAM into Samudra's prison wing would expedite matters. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-08-23 15:08 |
| #3 This is just one more blatant indicator of how thoroughly aligned Indonesia is with global terror. Given the terrorist sentence reductions and constant government collusion it all takes on an appearance of Pakistan's ISI. I'm beginning to think that a few well-planted bombs at the Indonesian statehouse might send the necessary message. File under: Sauce for Gander. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-08-23 15:03 |
| #2 The indonesian cops must be as efficient as the Saudi cops. No, they're quite efficient. You just need to realize that when a Muslim country jails a jihadi, it's done to maintain diplomatic relations with the kaffir. It's not really intended to be punishment. Hell, you could consider it protective custody. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-08-23 12:14 |
| #1 What happened to the [alledged] 'prison official' who helped smuggle the laptop into prison? Was he promoted? The indonesian cops must be as efficient as the Saudi cops. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-08-23 11:28 |