Bali bombing suspect claims he was tortured

The alleged operations chief of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group told a court today that police tortured him into signing a confession that he planned last year’s Bali nightclub bombings.

Ali Ghufron – one of three suspected group members on trial for the October 12 attack – said officers beat him 20 times and threatened to send a photograph of his bruised penis to his wife unless he confessed.

“I experienced extraordinary torture uncivilised mental and physical pressure,” Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, said in a written statement.

“I initially refused to sign the confession presented by the police. But later, I agreed because I could no longer stand all the torture.”

He urged the court to ignore the written confession he made while in police custody in which he also said that radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir allegedly ordered the bombings.

Bashir is on trial in Jakarta on separate charges of treason.

Another suspect in the Bali bombings, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, has also claimed police tortured him.

No medical report has been presented to support their claims of torture and police have denied both allegations. While in police custody, the detainees had regular access to medical care, officers say.

It was not clear how the torture allegations would impact on the trial.

Ghufron is accused of planning the Bali attack. He has told a court that he is the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah and fought alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Earlier in the day, a respected Muslim leader told the trial of another suspect, Imam Samudra, of the night he spent removing charred corpses from the bombed nightclubs on Bali.

“It was a horrifying scene,” Agus Bambang Prianto said, occasionally breaking down in tears. “I saw corpses lying on the street and pavement. Injured people sitting around holding the burnt parts of their bodies.”

Thirty-four people have been arrested in connection with the bombings, that killed 202 people, including 26 British holidaymakers.

The attack has been blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah as part of a campaign to establish an Islamic state in South-east Asia.

AP