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Rachman / EPA
Umar Patek, center, waves as he leaves court in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Monday.
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A militant suspected of building the bombs used in the 2002 Bali attack went on trial Monday on terrorism charges, a year after he was captured in the same Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was hiding.
Umar Patek is the top remaining suspect in the Bali nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people about a year after the Sept. 11 attacks and brought international attention to an al-Qaida-linked group intent on creating a pan-Islamic state throughout Southeast Asia.
Three masterminds in the attack already have been tried and executed, and authorities have made big strides in dismantling their regional terror group, Jemaah Islamiyah.
But Patek, nicknamed "Demolition Man" by Indonesian investigators, escaped the country after the attack and went on a nine-year flight from justice that took him to the Philippines and Pakistan, allegedly in pursuit of more terror opportunities.
$1 million bounty
Patek was captured in January 2011 in Abbottabad, where U.S. Navy Seals would kill Osama bin Laden just a few months later. Patek was then one of Asia's most wanted terror suspects, with a $1 million bounty on his head.
The trial could shed light on what Patek was doing in Abbottabad.
Indonesia's Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro has said he was believed to be trying to meet with bin Laden, but Patek has denied that, saying he was on way to seek shelter in Afghanistan. U.S. and Pakistan investigators have suggested Patek's stay in Abottabad was pure coincidence.
Patek, who also is accused in a string of Christmas Eve bombings at churches in 2000 that claimed 19 lives, was tightly guarded as he entered the West Jakarta District Court on Monday.
He smiled to reporters and photographers but did not respond to questions shouted by journalists. Wearing a white robe and a white skullcap, Patek, 45, sat quietly as the indictment was read out by state prosecutors, led by Bambang Suharijadi.
"His involvement in the Bali bombing as well as the church attacks were not as big as is being described," Patek's chief lawyer Ashluddin Hatjani told reporters afterward. "We will challenge that in a defense plea next week."
Patek, whose real name is Hisyam Bin Alizein and who has several aliases, could face death by firing squad if convicted of the various charges against him. The indictment includes charges of premeditated murder, hiding information about terrorism, illegal possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit terrorism.
Filing cabinets
After the charges were read, presiding judge Lexsy Mamoto adjourned the trial until next Monday. Patek then shook hands will all of the prosecutors except Rini Hartati, the only woman member of the team. Hartati held out her hand but Patek rejected it by putting his right hand on his chest.
In a re-enactment organized by police in Bali while he was in custody there, Patek showed how he and other conspirators stashed a 1,540-pound bomb in four filing cabinets, loaded it in a Mitsubishi L300 van along with a TNT vest bomb.
The van was detonated outside two nightclubs on Bali's famous Kuta beach.
Patek left Bali a few days before the Oct. 12 attacks were carried out, while Imam Samudra and two other masterminds of the Bali attacks — brothers Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron — were caught, tried and executed.
Patek later told interrogators that he and other militants involved in the Bali bombing met a week after the attack to celebrate and assess how they could have done it better.
"The meeting was led by Muklas to evaluate the shortcomings of the execution of the suicide bombings," he was quoted as saying in an interrogation report obtained by The Associated Press. "The meeting was also to thank God and eat together for the success of the bombings that we had carried out in Bali."
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What a pleasant smile............Fry em'!
I think we can say that this man is a true muslim ''"The meeting was also to thank God and eat together for the success of the bombings that we had carried out in Bali."yes very representative of the Islamic faith.
I would start frying from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other fountainhead areas!
These have become real international liabilities and curses on earth, humans have ever seen till now!
Yes, Jonathan, far worse than Cambodia in the 1970s, or the Soviet Union in the 1950s, or Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.
Yes, indeed, the world has never seen such evil as is represented by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other "fountainhead areas", at least not in the fantasy land you apparently inhabit.
Neither the world not humanity were created on Sept. 11, 2001.
dman: Hope you know the history of Islamic cult.
Since the birth of Islamic cult only contribution of followers of the cult are: stealing, looting, raping, kidnapping, genocides, telling lies, fooling and bringing chaos even to most calm areas.
To fool now and then cult followers use Ramadan style soap operas like "love", "peace", "pure" and so on and then cycle is back to square one.
The areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan after the coming of the barbaric and beastly Islamic cult, saw only the cult seals and no peace! It was a peaceful region before.
Even when the world is changing fast, Islamic cult folllowers are moving fast backwards to barbaric and beastly desert days!
Before the
While there are terrible Muslim fanatics, far far far more innocents have been tortured and murdered in the name of Christ, right-wing Hitler, and left-wing Stalin than by all the Muslims the world has ever known. Obviously Republicans and right-wing neo-Nazis make up lies like most of us breath--its just the way haters of Democracy, Freedom and America talk. Listen to all their lies and vicious innuendo about our President, the one who actually took out Bin Laden. Why do Teabaggers hate America? Why are their minds so filled with lies and filth? They--right-wing Republicans and Baggers--are the American Taliban, seeking to impose their phony "Christianism", filled with oppression of women, minorities, scientists, etc. on the rest of us. What about all the innocents killed by right-wing Republicans like McVeigh and all the cop killers?
Jonathan - First off, I note how you step around manifest falsity of your statement regarding Saudi Arabia and Pakistan: "These have become real international liabilities and curses on earth, humans have ever seen till now!" I restricted my examples to events in the last century, and came up with 3 instances, each of which dwarf any action by Al Qaeda, the Taliban or any present Islamic terrorist movement.
Your response? You shift the focus to the advent of Islam in these regions.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have known death and destruction in multiple ages of the world, starting long before Islam was founded in Saudi Arabia. The Indo Aryans, the Persians, the Greeks, the Kushan, the Huns and Mongols all have passed through that region and left their mark, and none of these invaders were Muslims, and none of them were gentle. So please, do not try and paint some idealized fantasy of the pre-Islamic world.
Moreover, Islam had not always or uniformly stood for slaughter and brutalization. During the Islamic rule of Spain, Jewish and Christian communities continued to survive and thrive, and Cordoba was the most culturally advanced city in Europe. In 1492, Grenada, the last Muslim state in what is now Spain fell to the combined armies of Ferdinand and Isabella. The same year, these same rulers expelled the Jews from their dominion. A few years later, they expelled the Muslims. The Spanish Inquisition, mocked by Monte Python, was instituted at this time too.
They did not waste any time, did they?
The Ottoman Turks also ruled all of the Balkan Peninsula for several hundred years, actually besieging Vienna in the 17th century. Yet, when they left, the Christian religion had survived.
So, again, do not try and tell me that Islam has only stood for death, destruction or intolerance. I know better.
dman: Islam is the worst of all religions and ideologies using any scale!
So you say, Jonathan. Saying it don't make it so, even with an exclamation mark!
I'm surprised he wasn't beheaded already ....
Why are prosecutors shaking his hand? Ignore his scummy gestures. I think frying him is going too far in a country riddled with energy shortages. Save electricity, shoot him instead. ;)
Even in shaking hands he leaves the woman out!
Den of lions? recycle.
"Umar Patek is the top remaining suspect in the Bali nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people about a year after the Sept. 11 attacks and brought international attention to an al-Qaida-linked group intent on creating a pan-Islamic state throughout Southeast Asia."
He was hiding in Abbotabad, where Osama was killed.
Still many in the US, Britain and some nations are debating: How to support "moderate", "democratic" and "secular" Paki govt; how much aid should be given to "ally on war terror" and so on!
Jonathan - Was he not taken into custody in Pakistan, by the Pakistan government?
Pakistan is not a lily white ally in the war against terrorism. But without their cooperation, our efforts in Afghanistan would have been far more difficult to carry out.
In war, one takes one allies where one finds them, as we did the Soviets in WWII.
dman: Hope you know that in Pakistan, there are some who work for the US too!
Money can do wonders in Pakistan due to high greed of Pakis. Some Pakis are as good as beasts. Add Islam to the combination.
Oh, well these guys are just confused. They obviously misread the verses in the Quran or something. Easy mistake to make. Could've happened to any follower of any religion.
#sarcasm.
Yup, just like all the millions of innocents killed by Christianists and in the many many lovely wars between Catholics and Protestants. Something in the Bible perhaps that encourages violence?
At least no Christian ever claimed that the Bible has been misunderstood.
LOL demolition man reminds me of the movie withsylvester stallon xD