McDonald's bomber jailed
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Security at U.S. businesses or interests has been increased in Indonesia due to terror attack warnings.
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MAKASSAR, Indonesia (Reuters) -- An Indonesian court has sentenced a Muslim militant to 18 years in jail for his role in the bombing of a McDonald's restaurant last year that killed three people and injured more than a dozen others.
Prosecutors had previously demanded the court sentence Arman, alias Galaxi bin Abdul Somad, to 20 years for his role in the bombing in the eastern city of Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province, 1,400 km (875 miles) east of Jakarta.
The panel of judges agreed with the prosecution that Arman transported and hid the lethal device before passing it on to the actual bombers ahead of the December 2002 blast. They also said the defendant helped survey the scene beforehand.
"We declare the defendant guilty of taking part in an evil conspiracy and helping a terror crime," said presiding judge Jasolo Situmorang in his verdict at the Makassar district court.
Arman responded with a smile. The maximum penalty for such a crime is death.
The verdict brought the number of people convicted over the case to 16, with sentences ranging from two to 18 years.
Police are still hunting for the mastermind of the bombing. It was one of a number of deadly bomb attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation in the past two years.
The worst was in Bali last year, which killed 202, most of them foreign tourists, and has been blamed on the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah militant Muslim network.
Authorities have said there was evidence linking the Makassar blast to the Bali bombings as some of the suspects knew militants on trial over the attacks on the resort island.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
