A convicted Bali bomber said yesterday that Abu Rusdan, the caretaker chief of the Jemaah Islamiah terror network, had opposed some of its bombing campaigns. "Abu Rusdan possibly knew about who conducted the church bombings in 2000 and 2001, that they came from the Mantiqi (JI regional command) number one," said a written deposition from the Bali bomber Mukhlas, which was read at Rusdan’s trial in South Jakarta court. "But at the time, Abu Rusdan was against and did not approve of such bombings."
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JI’s church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 killed 19 people. Mukhlas himself is appealing against a death sentence for authorising JI’s Bali attack which killed 202 people in October 2002. Rusdan is accused of failing to report Mukhlas to the authorities after Mukhlas allegedly claimed responsibility for the Bali blasts at a JI meeting in Central Java on October 17, 2002 - five days after the attack. He could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted under anti-terror laws. Mukhlas, alias Ali Ghufron, said in his deposition he was not sure when Rusdan became aware that the Bali bombings were his doing. |