BALI, Indonesia – A top organizer of last year's deadly nightclub attacks on Indonesia's Bali (search) island was sentenced Thursday to death by firing squad.
Ali Ghufron (search), alias Mukhlas (search), was "proven guilty of planning a terrorist action ... and we the judges sentence him to death," Judge Cokorda Rai Suamba said.
Ghufron is the third defendant in the case to be sentenced to death for the Oct. 12 attack that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Sixteen others have received prison terms ranging from seven years to life.
Ghufron reacted calmly to the ruling and told the judges he would appeal.
"The verdict is not in line with Islamic teachings," he said before the judges closed the hearing.
During the trial, Ghufron admitted to having been the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah (search) -- the Al Qaeda-linked extremist group believed responsible for the Bali bombings. He has also admitted to traveling to Afghanistan in the 1980s and fighting alongside Usama bin Laden.
Ghufron is last of four leading suspects to be tried in connection with the near-simultaneous bombings of two nightclubs and the U.S. consulate that shattered the peace in one of the world's premier tourist islands.
Two of the militants, including Ghufron's brother Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, have already been sentenced to death and a third to life behind bars. Fifteen others have received prison terms ranging from seven years to 16 years.
Ghufron was charged with overseeing planning meetings for the attack.
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