DOJ: Al-Ghozi slay no effect on case vs Yunos

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said yesterday the case against Muslim rebel Saifullah "Mukhlis" Yunos and others charged in connection with the Dec. 30, 2000 bombing remains strong despite the death of Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi.

Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño said Al-Ghozi’s confession can still be binding and presented in court as long as the one who assisted him in executing the affidavit and the prosecution lawyers can prove he indeed made such admissions.

"Although obviously the confession will no longer come out as strong as when Al-Ghozi was alive, but we can still use that," he said.

Yunos, whose real name is Moklis Hadji Onos, has recanted the guilty plea he entered before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 54. His lawyer said he was merely a "fall guy" forced to execute an affidavit admitting responsibility for the bombing.

Yunos and Al-Ghozi, who was killed Sunday in an encounter with military and police operatives hunting him down since his July 14 escape, implicated each other and two other Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leaders in the bombing of a Light Rail Transit (LRT) station coach and other targets in Metro Manila that claimed the lives of 22 people and wounded more than 100 others.

State prosecutor Peter Ong said Yunos’ trial will start next Tuesday and "it does not matter whether Al-Ghozi is present or not."

"The first LRT bombing case that I filed was in February 2002 and Al-Ghozi was not yet an accused that time, but (Yunos) was already an accused because I have independent witnesses against (him)," he said.

In their affidavits detailing their participation in the bombing, Yunos and Al-Ghozi implicated Indonesian Isamuddin "Hambali" Riduan and Malaysian Faiz bin Abubakar Barana in the bombing. They said the two JI leaders were the ones who funded and administered the bomb attack.

Al-Ghozi, the two JI leaders, and five more — Alim Pangalian Solaiman, Zainal Paks, Salman Moro, Ustad Said, and Mohamad Amir — were charged with multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder.

They joined Yunos, Col. Efren Torres and Sammy Arinday, who were earlier charged in connection with the bombings.

No bail was recommended for the accused, Ong said.

After Yunos was arrested on May 25, he admitted he was the chief of the special operations group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and acted as the planner of the bombings.

He said the "Abu Saad" he mentioned in his affidavit was Al-Ghozi.

Yunos said he assembled the relay components of the bombs used and that it was Al-Ghozi who assembled the timing devices and the repacking of the explosives.

He added that Amir, Paks, and Saidan were those who carried out the nearly simultaneous bomb attacks on the LRT station, a bus in Cubao, Quezon City, an abandoned gasoline station along EDSA in Makati City, Plaza Ferguson in Manila and a warehouse at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) cargo terminal.

Al-Ghozi, on the other hand, named Yunos as the one who asked for support to finance their jihad (holy war) in Manila, which was supervised by the two JI leaders.

He admitted owning an account at the Philippine National Bank using the alias Edris Anwarudin. He said the two JI leaders used the money to procure the explosives in Cebu City.

Al-Ghozi said he was with Yunos and a certain Amir when they proceeded to Manila on the last week of November 2000 on board a SuperFerry vessel, carrying with them 30 kilos of explosives.

He also said that he, along with Yunos, one Abu Sainal and a certain Abas, met "Hambali" and Bafana at NAIA on Dec. 1, 2000. He said the two JI leaders came here to supervise the progress of planned bomb attacks.

Flight manifests showed the JI leaders’ arrival in the country at that time.