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Bali mastermind sentenced to death

Judges sentenced an Islamic militant to death by firing squad after finding him guilty yesterday of being the "intellectual mastermind" behind last year's deadly nightclub bombings on Bali island.

"Imam Samudra has been clearly proven to have planned a terrorist act, and we hand down the sentence of death," Judge Wayan Sugawa said.

Samudra shouted "God is Great" after the verdict was read, while several people in courtroom cheered.

Samudra pumped his fist into the air as he was led out by police. "Go to hell, you infidels" and "Bush, Sharon," he yelled in English.

The latest sentence was another indication that Indonesian authorities are serious about using the criminal justice system to crack down on terrorism, without invoking draconian internal security acts -- such as those in Malaysia and Singapore -- that allow police to detain suspects for long periods without trial or access to legal advice.

Government leaders have said they are proud that their country has not compromised civil liberties in the struggle to eradicate Muslim militancy.

Earlier yesterday, Judge Ifa Sudewi said that Samudra played "a dominant role in the Bali bomb blasts and ... is the intellectual mastermind behind the Bali bomb explosions."

Samudra, 33, an Afghan-trained fighter, has said he wants to die as a martyr. But during the trial he denied the charges that he had commanded the group of militants who carried out the Oct. 12 attack that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

It was the deadliest terrorist atrocity since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US.

Prosecutors said that Samudra selected the recruits and helped fund the Bali attack. His goal, they said, was to avenge the treatment of Muslims at the hands of the US and Israel.

Almost half of the victims of the twin blasts were Australian tourists, while seven were from the US.

Reading through the summation of the trial, Sudewi said Samudra had described the blasts as "revenge ... against the tyranny of America." She said Samudra had met Osama bin Laden during the three years he spent in Afghanistan.

Samudra's lawyers immediately said they would appeal the sentence, claiming that he did not deserve to be put to death. They said Samudra's confession had been forcibly obtained by police.

"There was no justice in this case. He should not have gotten the death sentence," said attorney Qadar Faisal.

Death sentences in Indonesia are rare, but are allowed under a new anti-terror law adopted in the wake of the Bali attack. They are carried out by a firing squad of 15 paramilitary policemen.

Samudra is the second of 30 suspects arrested after the Bali attacks to be sentenced to death. Last month, his coconspirator Amrozi bin Nurhasyim also received the death sentence.

A handful of foreign observers watched the court proceedings, including friends and relatives of victims caught in the twin blasts.

"I feel very happy that justice being done," said Jan Laczynski, an Australian who lost several friends to the bombers.

The Bali attack is blamed on the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network said to operate throughout Southeast Asia.

The network's commander, Riduan Isamuddin Hambali, was captured last month in Thailand and handed over to US custody.

Jemaah Islamiyah is also accused of directing last month's car bombing of a luxury US-owned hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people.

A court in Jakarta last week sentenced Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir -- who Western governments say is one of the group's founders and its spiritual leader -- to four years imprisonment for sedition, but the court acquitted him of heading Jemaah Islamiyah.
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