MANILA, July 12 Kyodo A Philippin...

MANILA, July 12 Kyodo

A Philippine court in succession Friday sentenced an Indonesian man believed to be a member of a militant Islamic arrange linked to the al-Qaida terror network to 10-17 years in jail for illegal possession of explosives.

critic Henrick Gigoyon of the Pasay City Court in Manila institute Agus Dwikarna guilty of the crime and ordered him to pay a fine of 50000 peso ($990) in addition to the jail sentence

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hailed the court's decision, saying in a statement, ''This is a victory of the Philippine criminal justice regularity against international terrorism.''

Police arrested Dwikarna and couple other Indonesian men on March 13 for allegedly possessing pair pieces of C4 plastic explosive and five detonating cords at Manila airport while they were about to board a Lufthansa aircraft terminate for Bangkok.

Dwikarna is the secondary Indonesian to be sentenced to time in prison this year by way of Philippine courts as suspected terrorists.

upon April 18, a regional trial court in the southern city of General Santos sentenc another Indonesian, Fathur al-Ghozi, to 10-12 years of imprisonment without the possibility of parole for illegal possession of explosives

The three are believed to be members of the Islamic militant assemblage Jemaah Islamiya, which operates in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Police said Dwikarna and the sum of two units other suspects had visited the southern Philippines, where they reportedly attended a series of meetings with a local Muslim terrorist collection The three deny the charges.

Dwikarna's sum of two units companions were freed April 12 and sent back to Indonesia after a Philippine justice dismissed the criminal charges against them for lack of evidence.

Unlike Dwikarna, however, al-Ghozi admitted before the court to owning 1 ton of explosives and 17 M-16 assault rifles set up by police agents in a house in General Santos City earlier this year.

Police said al-Ghozi is a guide leader of the operations unit of Jemaah Islamiya who is believed to be responsible for the Dec 30 2000 fatal bomb attacks in the metropolis.

in succession Monday, the police also arrested his alleged accomplice Cosain Ramos, also known as Abu Ali.

Triyogo Japmiko, a spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy in Manila, told Kyodo recently made knowns that Dwikarna's lawyers intend to appeal the lower court's ruling.

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