Alleged Saudi terrorism financier stands trial in Indonesia’s deadly twin hotel bombings

Saudi stands trial over Jakarta hotel bombings

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Prosecutors told a court Wednesday that a retired Saudi Arabian school teacher who ran an Internet cafe in Indonesia helped finance militants responsible for suicide bombings at two Jakarta hotels that killed seven and wounded more than 50.

Al Khelaiw Ali Abdullah, 55, denied any involvement in the July 17, 2009, attacks on the downtown J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels.

“I’m not a terrorist. I’ll fight it,” Abdullah told reporters as he arrived at the South Jakarta District Court ahead of his trial by a panel of three judges.

Abdullah is charged with helping support terrorists by giving or lending money to perpetrators of a terrorist act. He faces a maximum 15 years in prison if convicted. The trial will resume next week.

Chief prosecutor Totok Bambang told the court Abdullah first arrived in Indonesia on a one-month tourist visa in November 2008 and met the alleged chief planner of the hotels attack, Syaefudin Zuhri, and the Marriott suicide bomber, Dwi Permana. Zuhri has been shot dead by police since the bombings and was never charged.

Abdullah later visited Indonesia again, on a six-month visa sponsored by Zuhri, and opened his Internet cafe business in Cibingbin, 200 miles (300 kilometers) east of Jakarta.

Bambang alleges Abdullah gave an Indonesian business associate, Iwan Herinsyah, 54 million rupiah ($5,800), for reasons unspecified.

The prosecution has not said where it believes the money came from, although al-Qaida is suspected.

Herinsyah was arrested along with Abdullah a month after the bombings, but only Abdullah was charged.

Zuhri allegedly took a 2.8 million rupiah ($300) cut from the payment to Herinsyah, and Zuhri is the basis of the charge of financing terrorism.

“No matter how much he provided, the fact is he has assisted them,” Bambang told reporters outside court, referring to the sum alleged.

Abdullah is the fourth alleged conspirator to go on trial this month over the hotel bombings that ended a four-year lull in terrorist attacks in this country with the world’s largest Muslim population.

Zuhri allegedly flew to the Saudi holy city of Mecca to raise money for the attacks.

Prosecutors say Zuhri was accompanied by Muhammad Jibriel Abdul Rahman, 25, whose trial began in the same court Tuesday.

Prosecutors have not specified how much money they raised.

Rahman has denied a charge of helping facilitate a terrorist act by concealing information. He faces 15 years in prison if convicted.

Police have killed nine suspects and arrested more than a dozen in the hotel bombing investigation. The trials of alleged plotters Amir Abdillah and Aris Susanna began Feb. 10.

Abdillah was charged with concealing information about the plots on the hotels and plans to assassinate Indonesian President Sisal Bambang Yudhoyono. Police arrested the alleged conspirators before an attempt was made on the president’s life.

Susanto was charged with harboring terrorists, including alleged terrorist mastermind Noordin Top. Top, who has been blamed for a string of deadly bombings, was shot to death in a police raid in September last year.

(This version CORRECTS that Abdullah’s potential sentence is 15 years, not 20.)