An Indonesian court on Monday dismissed defense calls to throw out the case against the man accused of masterminding last year’s Bali bomb blasts saying none of their arguments was valid. Imam Samudra, 33, is charged with plotting, organizing and carrying out crimes of terror and causing mass casualties in the October 12 nightclub bombings which killed more than 200 people, mostly young, foreign revelers. If convicted, he faces the death penalty. “The panel of judges hereby…rejects all exceptions from the defendant’s lawyers and orders the cross-examination of witnesses,” presiding judge I Wayan Sugawa told the court in Denpasar, capital of the resort island. Samudra is also accused of involvement in church bombings on Batam island near Singapore in 2000 and several robberies in Java that allegedly funded the Bali operation. Lawyers for Samudra, a computer expert, have told the court they objected to the fact that new anti-terror laws cited in the case were retroactive and that the Denpasar court had no jurisdiction over the Batam blasts. Full Story
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