Indonesian militant sentenced to death for embassy blast

An Indonesian court sentenced an Islamic militant to death today for involvement in the 2004 Australian Embassy suicide bombing, the second such verdict to be handed down in the case.

Mohamed Acmad Hasan shouted “God is Great” when the sentence was handed down. He said he would appeal.

“The defendant is found legally and convincingly guilty of helping to plan … the 2004 bombing outside the Australian Embassy,” said Judge Sobari, who goes by a single name.

Sobari said Hasan had sheltered the attack’s alleged masterminds – fugitive Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top – and helped assemble the bomb.

He also surveyed the embassy before the attack and gave Azahari a lift from the scene of the bombing on a motorbike, he said. Yesterday, Iwan Darmawan was also sentenced to death for helping plan and carry out the attack.

Police have blamed the bombing on the al-Qaida linked regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, which is also accused in the 2002 Bali bombings. Three terrorists have been sentenced to death over the Bali blasts.