Second death penalty in Embassy bombing
Jakarta (AsiaNews) Indonesian national Achmad Hassan is the second man sentenced to death for the September 9, 2004, bombing of the Australian Embassy that killed 12 people, injuring another 180.
Ahmad Sobari, the presiding judge in the South Jakarta District Court said the evidence against the accused was absolutely convincinghe was guilty of the charges brought against him and of hiding the perpetrators involved in the terrorist act.
Today's verdict follows that against Iwan Dharmawan Mutho, an Islamic militant also known as Rois, who also received the death sentence for his involvement in the same attack.
Whilst Rois reacted to the reading of the sentence shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (Allah, the greatest), Hassan accused the Jakarta court of submitting to US and Australian pressure. Australia has so far warmly welcomed the decision.
Judge Sobari said that both men contributed to terrorist "mission". "It is impossible to forgive such a deed," he said. "They carried it out in the name of Islam but their wrongdoings have actually hurt the essence of Islam. They are cruel and lack a sense of humanity."
According to the judges, there are no mitigating circumstances in Hassan's case; he never said he was sorry or shown any sign of remorse. He is guilty of helping the two attackers, Malaysian fugitives Azahari Noor and Nurdin M Top, to hide.
"From December 2003 to February 2004," the judges said, "the accused protected the two in his house in Blitar".
One of Hassan's lawyers, Achmad Michdan, said his team would soon file an appeal to a higher court.
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