DENPASAR (Indonesia) Sept 10: The militant who masterminded the bombing of two Bali nightclubs packed with Western tourists was sentenced to death on Wednesday after an Indonesian court found him guilty of a “crime against humanity.”

Imam Samudra waved his fist defiantly and shouted “Allahu Akbar” three times after judges sentenced him for the attack which killed 202 people from 21 countries last October.

Judge Ifa Sudewi said there were no mitigating factors and Samudra had committed “an extraordinary crime and a crime against humanity.”

Samudra again yelled “Allahu Akbar” as paramilitary police gripped his arms and led him out of court. “Go to hell, kafir!” he shouted in Arabic.

Investigators believe Samudra is a leading member of the Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network, which staged the attack to avenge Western oppression of Muslims worldwide.

He is the second Bali bomber to be sentenced to death — after Amrozi on August 7 — for the worst act of terror since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

“The defendant is seen as playing a dominant role in the Bali bomb blasts and therefore the judges declare that he is the intellectual actor behind the Bali bomb explosions,” Sudewi said.

She called the bombings “a cruel, savage, inhuman and from the religious aspect, a forbidden action.”

The Afghanistan-trained Samudra, who wore a white shirt and black cap, has said previously he would welcome death as bringing him closer to God. But lawyer Qadhar Faisal told reporters he had instructed them before the verdict to appeal any death sentence.—AFP