BALI, Sept 18: Remorseful Bali bomber Ali Imron was jailed for life on Thursday for helping organize and execute last year’s deadly nightclub attacks, but he escaped the death penalty given earlier to an older brother.

The sentence was tougher than the 20-year term sought by Indonesian prosecutors even though Imron had expressed sorrow during his trial that his actions had killed innocent people and urged family and supporters not to imitate him.

“The defendant has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of plotting with others crimes of terror. We are therefore sentencing the defendant to life in jail,” said presiding judge Mulyani.

In its sentencing, the court referred to an article of Indonesian law requiring that any person convicted on those charges be sentenced to death, or a minimum of life in jail.

Security experts said the verdict would help reassure the world Indonesia remained firm in its treatment of militants.

Earlier this month, a Jakarta court disappointed some by handing a relatively short four-year sentence to Abu Bakar Bashir for treason, a man many authorities believe is the spiritual head of the network blamed for Bali and other attacks.

“It’s just another indication they are not going to buckle when it comes to these guys,” a Jakarta-based Western security analyst said.

In cases concluded earlier, judges sent Ali Imron’s brother Amrozi and the convicted ground commander of the operation, Imam Samudra, to death row on similar charges. Neither showed any remorse or the cooperative attitude of Ali Imron.

Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for another of Imron’s older brothers, Mukhlas. The court is to deliver its verdict on Oct 2.

“What we have seen from the judges is their sense of justice, which is more sensitive to the impact of the incident. It seems that the judges were not gullible in accepting Imron’s apologies,” said Johnson Panjaitan, deputy head of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association.

The Bali blasts, on Oct 12 last year, killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists partying at Sari Club and Paddy’s Bar at the famed Kuta beachstrip which were frequented by Westerners.

Judges accepted the prosecution’s case that Ali Imron had helped make the bombs, helped deliver a bomb-laden car to the targeted nightclubs and planted another bomb near the U.S. consulate general in Denpasar, the capital of the tourist isle.

“The defendant, with Arnasan and Iqbal, rode a Mitsubishi L-300 minivan which had a bomb in it. The driver of the car was the defendant,” one of the five judges said earlier.

“When the car reached the Kuta intersection, he got out and Arnasan took over the car and parked it in front of the Sari Club.”

Arnasan died in the Sari Club blast while Iqbal, who was wearing a vest filled with explosives, died in Paddy’s.

Prosecutors have asked for death for Mukhlas, who police say is a senior leader of the Jemaah Islamiah Muslim group.

Police and prosecutors have said the Bali attacks were the work of Jemaah Islamiah.—Reuters