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Suspect justfies attacks under Islam

Suspect justfies attacks under Islam

Author:
Publication: The Sunday Mail
Date: July 16, 2003
URL: http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6761883^401,00.html

A key suspect in last year's Bali bombings claimed at trial today the attack was justified under Islam because it avenged the killings of innocent Muslims by the United States and its allies.

Imam Samudra also said he did not regret the October 12 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Officials say Samudra is a senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked terror network believed responsible for the blasts.

Samudra, an Afghan-trained militant, is accused of planning and carrying out the almost simultaneous twin blasts. He, like several other of the 35 people arrested over the attack, has admitted his involvement. His lawyers expect a conviction but are seeking to avoid a death sentence.

Samudra said he felt sorry for the Muslims who were killed in the blasts and claimed God would forgive him for their deaths.

"But if my actions touched the unbelievers ... then that is justified in the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad," he said.

He said the killings of innocent Muslims in Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere at the hands of the United States and its allies meant that Muslims had a right to kill Westerners at will.

However, Samudra denied specifically targeting the resort island but admitted he felt disgusted by the behaviour of foreign tourists there.

"I never mentioned Bali. Why Bali? I don't know," Samudra told the trial before describing his "disgust" at white people drinking liquor and frolicking while he was strolling past Bali's nightclub strips.

"I saw bules [white people] doing vicious things, drinking and adulterous things there," he said. "I felt extremely disgusted."

Samudra also said he saw al-Qaeda terror chief Osama bin Laden during three years spent in Afghanistan learning warfare skills and bomb-making but did not speak to him.

Samudra, who could face a firing squad if convicted of the bombings which killed 202 people, said he had wanted to die as a martyr since he was in junior high school.

He said he was sorry for the death of fellow Muslims in the blasts, which he described as a "side effect".

Prosecutors say Samudra, a 33-year-old computer specialist, attended key planning meetings in the run-up to the attack and coordinated his conspirators' actions on the night of the blast.

He is accused of violating recently passed anti-terror laws. If found guilty, he faces the death penalty.

With Agence France-Presse
 


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