INDONESIA: PROSECUTORS FILE TERRORISM CHARGES AGAINST REBEL CLERIC ABU BAKER BASHIR.

Record ID: 352102

  • Title: INDONESIA: PROSECUTORS FILE TERRORISM CHARGES AGAINST REBEL CLERIC ABU BAKER BASHIR.
  • Date: 15th October 2004
  • Summary: (W4) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (OCTOBER 15, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. GV/CU: EXTERIOR OF SOUTH JAKARTA COURT; CLOSE UP OF SIGN OF SOUTH JAKARTA COURT (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. MV/CU: YUNDA HASBI, OFFICIAL OF SOUTH JAKARTA COURT WHO RECEIVED THE DOSSIER FROM PROSECUTORS WITH DOCUMENTS; CLOSE UP ABU BAKAR BASHIR'S PICTURE ON THE DOSSIER; BASHIR'S IDENTITY ON THE DOSSIER F
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVA723UU02PMCCSSKIT6XM1A5TQV
  • Story Text: Indonesian prosecutors file terrorism charges against
    cleric Abu Baker Bashir.



    The mutiple charges on terror involve a suicide bomb
    outside the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003 which killed
    12 and involvement in a conspiracy to hide large amounts of
    explosives in central Java.

    "The charges are his leadership in Jemaah Islamiah and involvement
    in Marriott bomb, Central Java but not the Bali bombing," said
    Yunda Hasbi, official of South Jakarta Court who received the
    documents from prosecutors.

    A trial date has yet to be announced but normally a trial would
    start within two weeks of the charges being submitted.

    However Bashir could be detained for up to 90 days before a
    trial would have to begin.

    "I think the trial will be as soon as possible it is become
    priority because it has drawn public attention," Hasbi added.

    A Bashir lawyer, Achmad Michdan, said he expected the defence
    team would ask the court not to convene the trial during the
    month of Ramadan, a major religious period for Muslims during
    which they fast from sunrise to sunset.

    Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country.

    Authorities believe Bashir inspired militants who bombed
    nightclubs on the tourist island of Bali in 2002 and who
    carried out the Marriott bombing and other attacks.

    Bashir, who denies any connections with al Qaeda-linked Jemaah
    Islamiah or terrorism, was first arrested days after the Bali
    blasts that killed 202 people, amid suspicions he led Jemaah
    Islamiah and had ties to violent acts.

    However, following a trial using the ordinary criminal code,
    the court said there was not enough evidence to prove Bashir
    led the group, and ultimately only convictions related to
    immigration violations were upheld in appeals courts.

    After Bashir had served time on those convictions, Indonesian
    police detained him under a tough anti-terror law passed after
    the Bali bombings.

    Western countries as well as Indonesia's Southeast Asian
    neighbours have closely followed the legal actions against
    Bashir, viewing them as a litmus test of Jakarta's commitment
    against terrorism.

    Jemaah Islamiah has been blamed not just for attacks in
    Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous countries, but
    for planned and actual violence throughout the region.

    A car bomb outside Australia's embassy in Jakarta last month,
    which killed nine, is the latest action intelligence experts
    attribute to the group.

    Muslims account for some 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million
    people, but the vast majority are moderate.

    Indonesian president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, due to be
    sworn in on Oct. 20, has said strong action to fight terrorism
    will be one of his top priorities.


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