Life Sentence for Indonesian Who Aided Bali Attacks

BALI, Indonesia – A Muslim militant was convicted and sentenced Thursday to life in prison for helping plan the Bali nightclub bombings (search) that killed 202 people.

Sarjio (search), also known as Sawad, was found guilty of helping organize planning meetings and preparing the explosives used in the attacks on Oct. 12, 2002, Judge Arif Supratman (search) said.

"The defendant has shown no remorse. The chemicals that he prepared were used to build the bomb that killed hundreds of people and devastated Bali," Supratman said.

He said Sawad, 32, traveled to Bali in late September 2002 to survey the locations before mixing up the explosives at a rented house in the neighborhood where the bombings took place.

The defendant had faced a possible death sentence but was given life imprisonment because he was not directly involved in carrying out the attack, the judge said.

When asked by the judge whether he accepted or objected to the verdict, Sawad, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, jumped from the defendant bench and screamed: "I appeal, I appeal, I appeal."

He is the 30th defendant to have been convicted in the case. Three men were sentenced to death. Other sentences ranged from three years to life behind bars.

Also Thursday at the same court, prosecutors sought a 20-year jail sentence for Ahmad Roichan, another suspect who is accused of hiding Ali Gufron, one of the three men who received the death sentence.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Gufron's brother Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, who also was sentenced to death, said they would seek a judicial review of their client's conviction — a final legal attempt to prevent his execution.

The Bali blasts — the deadliest terrorist attack since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States — catapulted Indonesia into the front lines of the international war on terror and severely damaged Bali's tourism-dependent economy.

Authorities have blamed the Al-Qaeda-linked militant network known as Jemaah Islamiyah for the attack, as well as the Aug. 5 bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta in which 12 people died.