Bali bomber Amrozi biggest liar, says lawyer

The Australian ^ | July 23 2003 | Martin Chulov

[knighthawk]

AMROZI'S ex-lawyer described his former client as "the biggest liar" he had met and said he would likely face the firing squad for his role in the Bali bombings.

The lawyer, Suyanto, who now represents Amrozi's repentant younger brother, Ali Imron, also revealed yesterday that contrary to the smiling bomber's claims, he was never tortured into confessing to police and only seemed interested in dying as a martyr.

The two had a bitter falling-out on the eve of Amrozi being taken to trial in May, with each claiming to have sacked the other.

And now Mr Suyanto claims all the signed statements that Amrozi now resiles from are factual.

"I was with him nearly every day for many months from 5am and he was never once tortured," Mr Suyanto said. "I accompanied him every time he was interviewed by police.

"He is a big liar. He lied to me and to the court."

Mr Suyanto said his new client, Ali Imron, had not been treated more favourably because he had co-operated with police, and claimed the alleged bomber had told him he now believed the bombing was not justified as a jihad operation.

"He says there are two types of jihad, big and small. A big jihad is one (in which) you defend your faith and your people in a war area. And a small jihad is when you fight your own vices – a personal battle. Bali is neither one of these.

"He is very sorry for what he has done and is now convinced it was wrong."

Mr Suyanto confirmed that, as a sign of remorse, Ali Imron had chosen not to oppose the prosecution indictment read to the court in Denpasar on Monday.

But he said that did not necessarily mean his client was guilty of being a planner in the worst terrorist attack in Indonesia's history.

However, in his signed police statements, obtained by The Australian, Ali Imron admits to planting a bomb outside the US consulate and to helping assemble and transport the Sari Club bomb.

Mr Suyanto also confirmed there was a "big, big problem" between Ali Imron and his two elder brothers, Mukhlas and Amrozi, with the latter accusing their sibling of selling them out to police to avoid the death penalty.

Ali Imron will face some of the bombing victims on Friday.

Mukhlas will come face to face in court today with fellow defendant Idris for the first time since they fled in separate directions in the days following the bombing attacks last October 12.

Joining Idris in court as witnesses in the Mukhlas trial will be two important, but unknown, figures in the Bali plot, Sawad and Abdul Ghoni. Both men spent almost 48 hours preparing and mixing aluminium powder, potassium chlorate and sulphur to make the devastating Sari Club bomb.

Idris helped bring the materials to the flat hired by the bombers in Denpasar. He was known as the logistics co-ordinator among the alleged conspirators and worked closely with Mukhlas, reputedly the most senior terrorist yet captured in Southeast Asia.

[knighthawk]

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