Bali bombings planner jailed for life

A Muslim militant was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment today for helping build and transport bombs used in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including 31 Britons.

Abdul Goni, a 35-year-old Indonesian, was found guilty of helping plan the attack and illegal weapons possession, Judge I Made Sudia said. Goni is the fourth Bali bomber jailed for life over the October 12, 2002 attack.

Goni was silent during the proceedings, but his lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.

The defendant had faced a possible death sentence but was given life imprisonment because he was not directly involved in carrying out the attack, the judge said.

He is the 31st defendant to be convicted in the case. Three men were sentenced to death. Other sentences ranged from three years to life behind bars.

The Bali blasts - the deadliest terrorist attack since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US - catapulted Indonesia into the front lines of the international war on terror and severely damaged Bali's tourism-dependent economy.

Authorities have blamed the al Qaida-linked militant network Jemaah Islamiyah for the attack, as well as the August 5 bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people.