Bali bomb defendant angered by Australian officer's evidence

(7 Jul 2003)

1. Wide of Australian federal police officer Nicholas Klein entering court, taking seat in front of judge
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nicholas Klein, Australian Federal police officer:
(Note Klein's statement is interspersed with translation into Bahasa Indonesia)
"Relating to stolen credit cards internet pages were found showing use of different email addresses. Internet pages were found talking about computer hacking. Pictures were found with anti-Israeli messages. Pictures were found showing pornography and other internet pages were found showing different internet sites that were visited at that computer."
3. SOUNDBITE: (Bahasa Indonesia) Imam Samudra, Bali bomb defendant:
"Some of the information (given by witness) is true, and some is not. The information that is not true is the following. First, what is in the computer is not yet a website and only a design of a website. Second, pictures in the computer can be added before cloning the computer (for forensic purposes). Third, there is no information from cards in the computer. They all come from chatrooms. Fourth, some of the pictures in the computer were created after the bombing and not before. And there is no statement from the Isitimata organisation (a little known local Islamic organisation that had claimed responsibility to the Bali bombing).
4. Judge speaking
5. Klein is excused from court, gets up to leave
6. Defendant Samudra being taken away by police

STORYLINE:

Pornographic pictures and a link to a web site claiming responsibility for last year's Bali bombings were discovered on the computer of an Islamic militant accused of masterminding the attack, according to an Australian police officer who testified in a court in Denpasar on Monday.

At one stage in the proceedings, defendant Imam Samudra shook his fist and shouted "You beware!" in the face of Australian police investigator Nicholas Klein, the first foreign officer to give testimony in the trial.

Klein did not respond, and the judge angrily told Samudra to be quiet.

Samudra is accused of playing a key planning and organisational role in the October 12 nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

The 32-year-old computer expert is one of 35 people arrested in the attack and one of several key suspects already on trial.

Klein, from the Australian Federal Police's high-tech crimes unit, said pornographic photos were found on Samudra's laptop computer, which was seized when he was arrested on November 20.

He said officers also recovered several images of victims of the bombings, as well as photos of Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged head of Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaida linked group blamed for the blasts.

Samudra, who has admitted playing a role in the attack, strenuously denied having the photos on his computer, and accused the police of planting them.

Without elaborating, he said "those files were slipped in from outside. I have evidence".

Klein also said police found a link to a web page on which letter from a little-known Islamic group claims responsibility for the bombings.

The site - isitimata.com - has long been inactive, but was viewed by The Associated Press in the weeks after the bombings.

It claimed the attack was in revenge for alleged persecution of Muslims in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Bosnia.

All the Bali suspects on trial are accused of violating anti-terror laws passed in the days after the attack and face possible death sentences if found guilty.


A verdict in his trial is expected in August.

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