INDONESIA: JAKARTA COURT BEGINS SUMMONING WITNESSES TO TESTIFY IN TRIAL OF MUSLIM CLERIC ABU BAKAR BASHIR

Record ID: 584731

  • Title: INDONESIA: JAKARTA COURT BEGINS SUMMONING WITNESSES TO TESTIFY IN TRIAL OF MUSLIM CLERIC ABU BAKAR BASHIR
  • Date: 30th November 2004
  • Summary: (W2)JAKARTA, INDONESIA (NOVEMBER 30, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WS: EXTERIOR OF COURT VENUE 0.08 2. SECURITY OUTSIDE WAITING ROOM 0.13 3. DEFENDANT ABU BAKAR BASHIR SITTING INSIDE TEMPORARY HOLDING CELL (SEEN THROUGH WINDOW) 0.18 4. WS: PANEL OF JUDGES ENTERING COURT ROOM AND TAKING SEATS 0.27 5. PRESIDING JUDGE SUDARTO OPENING COURT SESSION 0.35 6. BASHIR WALKING INTO COURT SESSION, SUPPORTERS SHOUTING "GOD THE GREATEST", BASHIR TAKING DEFENDANT SEAT 0.54 7. WS/SV: BASHIR LISTENING TO JUDGE (2 SHOTS) 1.04 8. BASHIR'S SUPPORTERS LISTENING 1.09 9. WS/MV: BASHIR WALKING TO TAKE SEAT NEXT TO DEFENCE TEAM (2 SHOTS) 1.25 10. WS/SV: SEVEN WITNESSES SCHEDULED TO TESTIFY AT THIS COURT SESSION STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER (2 SHOTS) 1.34 11. WIDE OF WITNESSES LISTENING TO JUDGE 1.39 12. SCU: BASHIR SMILING TO WITNESSES 1.46 13. SV/WS: WITNESSES PLACED UNDER OATH BEFORE JUDGES (2 SHOTS) 1.54 14. WS: SRI LESTARI, WIFE OF SECURITY GUARD KILLED BY J.W. MARRIOTT BLAST, TAKING WITNESS STAND 2.06 15. (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) LESTARI SAYING: "I received a call from a friend of Edi Sucipto, telling me that he had been in an accident, an explosion. (Q: "WHO'S EDI SUCIPTO?") Edi Sucipto was my husband." 2.19 16. WIDE OF LESTARI GIVING EVIDENCE 2.25 17. BASHIR READING DOCUMENTS DURING WITNESS' TESTIMONY 2.29 18. REAR VIEW/SV: MORE OF LESTARI ANSWERING QUESTIONS, SOBBING WHILE TESTIFYING (2 SHOTS) 2.45 19. WIDE HAS OF COURT SESSION 2.50 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 15th December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVACXQJZQEIWZQMEQHDNHQA8A0BJ
  • Story Text: Jakarta court summons witnesses to testify in cleric
    Bashir trial.



    A Jakarta court on Tuesday (November 30, 2004) began
    summoning witnesses to testify in the trial on terrorism
    charges of Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir,
    accused of leading a regional terror network linked to al
    Qaeda.

    Bashir's lawyers had argued that charges against the
    cleric, accused of inciting deadly attacks such as the
    suicide bombing of Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel in 2003 and
    nightclub bombings in Bali in 2002, were full of
    shortcomings and should be thrown out.

    The court, however, said last week that the indictment
    met required conditions.

    Seven witnesses took the stand on Tuesday, including
    family members of victims killed by the Marriot blast.

    "I received a call from a friend of Edi Sucipto,
    telling me that he had been in an accident, an explosion.

    Edi Sucipto was my husband," Sri Lestari told the court,
    wiping away tears as she sobbed during her testimony.

    Bashir, wearing his trademark white skull cap and a
    checked scarf, was expressionless as he listened to the
    testimony of Lestari.

    Bashir, his lawyers and supporters have often said his
    prosecution is a response to pressure from countries such
    as the United States, which they say is leading an
    anti-Islamic campaign in the name of the war on terror.

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

    That drew fire from the United States and Australia.

    The latter lost 88 citizens in the Bali bombing.

    Bashir, who has consistently denied involvement in terrorism,
    served 18 months for immigration violations but
    was re-arrested in April at the end of that sentence with
    police using anti-terrorism statutes rather than the
    criminal code in their investigation of the case.

    The Jemaah Islamiah network has also been blamed for a
    Sept. 9 bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta
    that killed 10, as well as planned and actual attacks in
    other Southeast Asian countries.
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