Cleric Bashir gets 2½ years
From correspondents in Jakarta
March 3, 2005
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=2753847
INDONESIAN Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, accused of leading an Al-Qaeda-linked group blamed for bombings across Asia, was jailed for two-and-a-half-years today at the end of his terrorism trial.
Bashir was cleared of terrorism allegations but was jailed by a five-member panel of judges after being found guilty of involvement in a "sinister conspiracy" that led to the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.
"The panel of judges decided that the defendant, Abu Bakar Bashir, has been legally and convincingly proven of engaging in a sinister conspiracy that led to fire and the death of others," Chief judge Sudarto said.
The judges said that his words to key Bali bomber Amrozi and Hutomo Pamungkas during a meeting in Solo, Central Java in 2002 had constituted the conspiracy.
Bashir had told them "I leave it up to you" when he was notified by Amrozi that he and his friends were planning "a program" in Bali.
The verdict was greeted by yells of "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)" by his followers both inside and outside the court. The judges were immediately whisked out of the room by armed police.
More than 800 police were deployed around the agriculture ministry complex in south Jakarta where the trial was being held. It is the second time the man accused of leading the Jemaah Islamiyah group has faced terrorism charges.
The white-bearded Bashir, 66, looked frail in court dressed in his traditional white robe and shawl, a white skullcap and glasses.
Prosecutors had demanded an eight-year prison sentence for Bashir for failing to prevent Jeemaah Islamiyah members from carrying out terror attacks.
The main charge that Bashir and his supporters planned the Bali bombings and the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003 had been dropped for lack of evidence.
Prosecutors in their indictment said that as Jemaah Islamiyah chief, Bashir visited one of its training camps in the Philippines in 2000 and allegedly relayed a "ruling from Osama bin Laden which permitted attacks and killings of Americans and their allies".
Indonesia has come under pressure from the US and Australia to act against Bashir, and the trial has heard evidence that Indonesia was asked to hand him over to the US authorities.
Shortly before today's court session, Bashir said that if he was found guilty it would be a "tyrannical verdict", but he appealed to his followers not to react with violence if he was convicted.
"If Allah decides to free me, then we should not be overly happy but if Allah decides that I remain in detention, if the judges do not free me, we should also not react excessively," Bashir said.
Bashir maintained that US President George W. Bush, "the enemy of Allah", had pressured Indonesia to jail him to stop him campaigning for Islamic law.
Inside the auditorium about 100 Bashir supporters packed the public gallery. About 400 Bashir supporters and dozens of members of the hardline Front for the Defenders of Islam group gathered outside the court.
Bashir was arrested a week after the October 2002 Bali bombings and was first put on trial the following year.
Prosecutors failed to prove that he waged a terror campaign to topple the government and led Jemaah Islamiyah, which is committed to setting up a pan-Islamic state across South-East Asia.
However, judges found him guilty of immigration offences and he was jailed.
Police rearrested him in April last year as he left prison after serving the immigration sentence, citing new evidence of terrorist links and of his Jemaah Islamiyah leadership.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a series of terror attacks in the region, including a suicide bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta last September that killed 11 people.
AFP
Cleric Bashir gets 2½ years
From correspondents in Jakarta
March 3, 2005
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=2753847
INDONESIAN Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, accused of leading an Al-Qaeda-linked group blamed for bombings across Asia, was jailed for two-and-a-half-years today at the end of his terrorism trial.
Bashir was cleared of terrorism allegations but was jailed by a five-member panel of judges after being found guilty of involvement in a "sinister conspiracy" that led to the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.
"The panel of judges decided that the defendant, Abu Bakar Bashir, has been legally and convincingly proven of engaging in a sinister conspiracy that led to fire and the death of others," Chief judge Sudarto said.
The judges said that his words to key Bali bomber Amrozi and Hutomo Pamungkas during a meeting in Solo, Central Java in 2002 had constituted the conspiracy.
Bashir had told them "I leave it up to you" when he was notified by Amrozi that he and his friends were planning "a program" in Bali.
The verdict was greeted by yells of "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)" by his followers both inside and outside the court. The judges were immediately whisked out of the room by armed police.
More than 800 police were deployed around the agriculture ministry complex in south Jakarta where the trial was being held. It is the second time the man accused of leading the Jemaah Islamiyah group has faced terrorism charges.
The white-bearded Bashir, 66, looked frail in court dressed in his traditional white robe and shawl, a white skullcap and glasses.
Prosecutors had demanded an eight-year prison sentence for Bashir for failing to prevent Jeemaah Islamiyah members from carrying out terror attacks.
The main charge that Bashir and his supporters planned the Bali bombings and the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003 had been dropped for lack of evidence.
Prosecutors in their indictment said that as Jemaah Islamiyah chief, Bashir visited one of its training camps in the Philippines in 2000 and allegedly relayed a "ruling from Osama bin Laden which permitted attacks and killings of Americans and their allies".
Indonesia has come under pressure from the US and Australia to act against Bashir, and the trial has heard evidence that Indonesia was asked to hand him over to the US authorities.
Shortly before today's court session, Bashir said that if he was found guilty it would be a "tyrannical verdict", but he appealed to his followers not to react with violence if he was convicted.
"If Allah decides to free me, then we should not be overly happy but if Allah decides that I remain in detention, if the judges do not free me, we should also not react excessively," Bashir said.
Bashir maintained that US President George W. Bush, "the enemy of Allah", had pressured Indonesia to jail him to stop him campaigning for Islamic law.
Inside the auditorium about 100 Bashir supporters packed the public gallery. About 400 Bashir supporters and dozens of members of the hardline Front for the Defenders of Islam group gathered outside the court.
Bashir was arrested a week after the October 2002 Bali bombings and was first put on trial the following year.
Prosecutors failed to prove that he waged a terror campaign to topple the government and led Jemaah Islamiyah, which is committed to setting up a pan-Islamic state across South-East Asia.
However, judges found him guilty of immigration offences and he was jailed.
Police rearrested him in April last year as he left prison after serving the immigration sentence, citing new evidence of terrorist links and of his Jemaah Islamiyah leadership.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a series of terror attacks in the region, including a suicide bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta last September that killed 11 people.
AFP
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