DENPASAR, 08 September 2003 - Two men who robbed a jeweller's shop to raise funds for the Bali bombings were each jailed for 15 years by different courts on Monday. Judge Ida Bagus Jagra found Andi Hidayat, alias Agus, guilty of "jointly with others providing funds for a terrorist action." The judge said Hidayat in August 2002 took part in a robbery of the shop at Serang in west Java in which 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of gold jewelry and Rp5 million (US$600) in cash was stolen.
The gold and money were handed over to Imam Samudra, the alleged field commander of the Bali attack, later that month. Samudra, 33, will hear a verdict in his trial on Wednesday and prosecutors have asked for a death sentence. The robbery, in which four men were involved, left the shopkeeper's daughter wounded by a gunshot.
In a separate trial judges found Junaedi, alias Amin alias Engkong, guilty of the same charges as Hidayat and gave him the same sentence. Junaedi has testifed that Samudra once tried to recruit him as a suicide bomber. The lawyers and the prosecutors, who had sought 18 years in jail, were given seven days to decide whether to appeal.
Police say the Jamaah Islamiyah terror group carried out the attack on two crowded Bali nighspots, killing 202 people, to strike at Westerners in revenge for oppression of Muslims in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
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