Umar never met Osama in Pakistani town, says lawyer
JAKARTA: Suspected Indonesian bombmaker Umar Patek’s stay in the same Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was killed in a US raid was a coincidence and the pair never met, his lawyer said.
Umar, 45, is facing 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 yesterday, defence lawyers objected to the murder charges, saying Umar was not involved in planning the bombing that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Umar, once the most wanted terror suspect in Indonesia, had a Us$1mil (Rm3mil) bounty on his head under the US rewards for justice programme.
He was extradited to Indonesia after being arrested in January last year in Abbottabad, where US commandos later killed Osama.
Defence lawyer Asludin Hatjani denied that
He went to Pakistan as part of his plans to migrate to Afghanistan. — ASLUDIN HATJANI
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,” Asludin said.
He denied Umar was linked to al-qaeda. “Even the police statements make no mention of his links to al-qaeda,” he said.
Umar was a suspected key member of Jemaah Islamiah, a South-east Asian terror network with suspected links to al-qaeda.
Hatjani added that Umar’s role in the Bali bombings was smaller than the prosecution was trying to portray. — AFP