http://www.theage.com.au/world/bali-bombmaker-guilty-only-of-passport-fraud-20120528-1zfad.html Bali bomb-maker 'guilty only of passport fraud' Michael Bachelard May 29, 2012 a.. Court debates Bali bomb-maker sentencing Umar Patek's lawyer says a life sentence is "too heavy" for the Indonesian militant who has admitted involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings.
MASTER bomb-maker Umar Patek was guilty only of passport fraud and shared no criminal responsibility for the Bali bombings, his lawyer argued in court yesterday. Even though Patek, 45, has admitted to mixing 50 kilograms of explosive chemicals for the bombs that killed 202 people, his lawyer said he could not be blamed because he did not ''deliberately'' participate. Last week prosecutors asked for a life sentence for the religious fanatic known as the Demolition Man, who learnt bomb-making at a mujahideen camp on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early 1990s. Advertisement: Story continues below Umar Patek. Photo: AFP But Patek's lawyers argued he did not realise the size of the bomb or the nature of the undertaking until after he had arrived at the rented Bali house where members of terror group Jemaah Islamiya were staying. Patek said in evidence this month that only then was he shown the chemicals and the filing cabinets into which they were to be packed, and told that ''bule'' (white people) were the target. Whatever he had done, his lawyer said, was at the orders of Imam Samudra, who was executed for his crimes in November 2009. ''When the defendant saw such a large amount of explosive materials, he was angry towards Imam Samudra,'' lawyer Asludin Hatjani said. ''The defendant reminded Imam Samudra that Muslims could also be killed. But Imam Samudra replied that all had been decided.'' Mr Hatjani said there was ''nothing the defendant could do'' to stop the plot. ''It did cross the defendant's mind to leave Bali but he could not do it because the money left in his pocket was only 10,000 rupiahs ($1.10),'' the lawyer argued. ''Therefore Umar Patek's action did not fulfil the element of 'deliberate' … With or without the defendant, Bali bombing would have taken place anyway … So, could the defendant be blamed for people's deaths while it wasn't his intention?'' Patek is charged with participating in the bombing of Christian churches at Christmas 2000, illegal possession of firearms at an Aceh terror training camp, concealing information about a terror attack, and passport forgery. Of all these charges, the document fraud was the only one he was guilty of, his lawyers argued. But the prosecution told the court last week that Patek was a linchpin in the plot. He was capable of creating the bombs used, and he would have been aware of the devastation they would cause. Prosecutor Bambang Suharijadi said Patek was a ''terrorist and murderer'' who was linked closely to international terrorist organisations. Patek left Indonesia after the 2002 atrocities and remained on the run for 10 years, trying as recently as last year to form new connections between south-east Asia terror networks and al-Qaeda. He was captured in January last year in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where US forces killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden less than four months later. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/bali-bombmaker-guilty-only-of-passport-fraud-20120528-1zfad.html#ixzz1wNb6MKfi [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
