INDONESIA: INDONESIAN MUSLIM CLERIC ABU BAKAR BASHIR MOCKS TERROR CHARGES AGAINST HIM IN COURT

Record ID: 352145

  • Title: INDONESIA: INDONESIAN MUSLIM CLERIC ABU BAKAR BASHIR MOCKS TERROR CHARGES AGAINST HIM IN COURT
  • Date: 4th November 2004
  • Summary: (U1) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (NOVEMBER 4, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV SUPPORTERS OF ABU BAKAR BASHIR LINING UP TO ENTER COURT BUILDING 0.04 2. SV OF SUPPORTERS REGISTERING TO OBTAIN VISITOR PASSES 0.10 3. CU/SV OF ID CARD BEING EXAMINED (2 SHOTS) 0.18 4. SV/SLV SUPPORTERS WITH SHIRTS SAYING "ISLAM UNITED, CANNOT BE DEFEATED" PASSING THROUGH S
  • Embargoed: 19th November 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVA5O33VLAFFXSP62FH5UN67TF01
  • Story Text: Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir mocks
    terror charges against him in court.



    Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir told
    a court on Thursday (November 4, 2004) that his terrorism trial
    was a joke and mocked prosecutors by challenging them to
    file more bombing charges against him so the "thrill" was
    complete.

    Delivering a scathing defence statement, Bashir accused
    the world's most populous Muslim nation of bending to U.S.

    President George W. Bush. Earlier, he said that he hoped
    God would punish the United States for Bush's re-election.

    Prosecutors have accused Bashir of leading an al
    Qaeda-linked militant network and inciting others to carry
    out attacks such as a suicide bombing at the J.W. Marriott
    Hotel in Jakarta in August last year that killed 12 people.

    "I'm being charged with the Marriott bombing despite
    the fact I had been in jail for a year. I did not even know
    there was a hotel called the Marriott," said Bashir, 66,
    wearing his trademark white skull cap and a checked scarf.

    "These charges are jokes. To make the charges more
    colourful I suggest the bombing at the KPU, the bombing in
    Kuningan and the bombing at the Indonesian embassy in Paris
    be included so that the thrill is complete."
    He later shed tears when reciting an Islamic prayer.

    Indonesia has been hit by numerous bomb attacks in the
    past several years. The most recent was a suicide bombing
    outside the Australian embassy in the Jakarta suburb of
    Kuningan in September which killed 10 people.

    A small blast hit the election commission, or KPU, in
    July, and there was a similar small explosion outside the
    Indonesian embassy in Paris last month.

    Bashir's lawyers called for the court to drop the trial
    due to what they see as shortcomings in legal
    technicalities, and described the charges as "manipulative
    legal fiction".

    "The content of the charges was not based on real
    fact," said Mohammad Assegaf, one of Bashir's lawyers,
    reading the 100-page defence statement.

    "Therefore, overall this legal fiction made up by the
    prosecutors was a series of imaginative stories linked to
    Abu Bakar Bashir."
    Many see the trial that began last week as an early
    test of promises by new President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
    to fight Islamic militancy.

    Speaking to reporters before his trial resumed, Bashir
    said God would respond to Bush's victory.

    "Maybe there will be a disaster in America because
    President Bush keeps committing crimes. Unless he changes,
    God willing, there will be a disaster," he said.

    The trial was adjourned until Nov. 11.

    Bashir was arrested shortly after bombs ripped through
    two nightclubs in Bali in 2002, killing 202 people but
    courts ruled charges brought under the criminal code over
    his leadership of the Jemaah Islamiah network, seen as the
    regional arm of al Qaeda, and links to earlier violence
    were unproven.

    He instead served 18 months for immigration violations
    but was re-arrested once that sentence had been served.

    Prosecutors have charged Bashir with leading Jemaah
    Islamiah in relation to the Marriott and Bali attacks.

    Authorities have blamed Jemaah Islamiah for both.

    He could face the death penalty if found guilty.

    Terrorism laws apply to the Marriott attack, while the
    criminal code covers Bali. The terrorism laws were enacted
    after the Bali blasts and cannot be applied retroactively.

    Prosecutors have also said Bashir ordered members of
    Jemaah Islamiah to disseminate statements from al Qaeda
    chief Osama bin Laden calling for war against Americans.

    President Yudhoyono has pledged to protect Indonesia
    from terrorism, but some Indonesians believe the United
    States is behind Bashir's second trial. Two Islamist
    parties that support Yudhoyono in parliament have also
    expressed sympathy for Bashir.

    However, there is also growing revulsion at terror
    attacks, giving Yudhoyono more room to get tougher, some
    analysts say.



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