Jail terms sought for accused in 2005 Bali bombings

Prosecutors today sought prison terms of between 10 and 15 years for four militants charged in the 2005 restaurant bombings on Indonesia’s Bali island.

The four defendants are accused of supplying and transporting the explosives and sheltering Noordin Top, a Malaysian named by police as the key organiser of the attacks, which killed 20 people and wounded almost 100.

“Their actions constituted an extraordinary crime against humanity that took away many lives ... and hurt the investment climate and hit the tourist trade,” Prosecutor Ni Putu Indriati told the Denpasar District Court.

Prosecutors recommended that Abdul Azis, Dwi Widiarto and Anif Solchanudin be sentenced to 10 years. Mohammed Cholily should receive 15 years in jail, they said.

The men are being tried under an anti-terror law that carries the death sentence.

Judges in Indonesia consider prosecutors demands when handing down sentences, but they are free to impose a different punishment.

Verdicts against the men, who are being tried separately, are expected in three or four weeks time.

Top is alleged to be a member of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al Qaida linked regional terror group.

The network is accused in several other attacks in Indonesia in recent years, including 2002 attacks on Bali that killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.