Suspected Indonesian bomb maker Umar Patek’s stay in the same town where Osama bin Laden was later killed in a US raid was a coincidence and the pair never met, his lawyer said on Monday. Patek, 45, faces six counts of murder, bomb-making and illegal firearms possession over the 2002 Bali nightclub attacks, and prosecutors say they will push for the death penalty. In his trial at the West Jakarta court on Monday, defence lawyers objected to the murder charges, saying Patek was not involved in planning the bombing that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. Patek, once the most wanted terror suspect in Indonesia, had a $1 million bounty on his head under the US rewards for justice programme. He was extradited to Indonesia after being arrested in January 2011 in Abbottabad.
Defence lawyer Asludin Hatjani denied that Patek had gone to Pakistan to meet with the Al-Qaeda boss. “He went to Pakistan as part of his plans to migrate to Afghanistan. He never met Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and he had no plans to meet him. In fact, he had no idea Osama was in Abbottabad,” Hatjani said. He denied Patek was linked to Al-Qaeda. “Even the police statements make no mention of his links to Al-Qaeda,” he said.
Patek was a suspected key member of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian terror network with suspected links to Al-Qaeda. Hatjani added that Patek’s role in the Bali bombings was smaller than the prosecution was trying to portray. “His role in the Bali bombing was that he… participated in assembling the bombs,” he told reporters after Monday’s session. “The premeditated murder charge is not appropriate.”
He said defence lawyers had also denied that Patek tested three M16 assault rifles to help prepare a terrorist training camp in Aceh province on Sumatra island, where police say militants were planning gun attacks on prominent Indonesian figures. “He never participated in the testing of firearms. He was in the area but to attend a wedding.
