- Title: INDONESIA: ABU BAKAR BASHIR SENTENCES TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON ON TREASON CHARGES
- Date: 2nd September 2003
- Summary: (W4) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (SEPTEMBER 2, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF ABU BAKAR BASHIR DURING READING OF VERDICT 0.05 2. CLOSEUP OF BASHIR LISTENING 0.11 3. CLOSE OF PERSON TAKING NOTES 0.15 4. SMV SUPPORTERS 0.20 4. WIDE OF PANEL OF JUDGES 0.24 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) CHIEF JUDGE MUHAMMAD SALEH READING OUT VERDICT ,SAYING: "(The defendant) is proven guilty convincingly by law of having commited a criminal act of taking part in acts of treason." 0.39 6. SCU BASHIR LISTENING 0.44 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) SALEH SAYING: "To hand down the verdict against the defendant a four-year prison time." 0.54 8. SMV BASHIR WALKING TOWARDS HIS DEFENCE LAWYERS FOR CONSULTATION 1.06 9. SMV BASHIR TALKING TO LAWYERS 1.12 10. CLOSEUP OF BASHIR'S FACE 1.17 11. SMV SECURITY 1.22 12. SLV BASHIR RETURNING TO DEFENDANT'S SEAT TO ADDRESS CROWD 1.30 13. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) BASHIR SAYING: "Agreeing to this court is haram (forbidden by Islam), therefore I cannot accept this verdict and I will appeal." 1.37 14. WIDE OF CROWD SHOUTING "GOD THE GREATEST" 1.40 15. SLV BASHIR LEAVING COURTROOM SURROUNDED BY GUARDS 1.51 16. VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS OUTSIDE PROTESTING, SHOUTING "GOD THE GREATEST" (2 SHOTS) 2.01 17. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) INDONESIAN MUJAHIDIN COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON, IRVAN AWWAS, SAYING: "During Suharto's era Abu Bakar Bashir had been wrongly prosecuted for thirteen years and sentenced to four years. And now, again, he was prosecuted for fifteen years and also sentenced to four years. The government of Indonesia is repeating the same mistake. It's pure vengeance." 2.12 19. WIDE OF AWWAS TALKING TO MEDIA 2.16 20. WIDE OF MORE OF SECURITY/SUPPORTERS 2.20 21. SLV LINE OF RIOT POLICE WAITING IN SHADOW 2.25 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 17th September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVACARHTUCLUAMQ58ZI62WWYZH8C
- Story Text: An Indonesian court says militant Muslim cleric Abu
Bakar Bashir is guilty of treason and sentenced him to four
years in jail.
: The verdict was delivered on Tuesday (September
2) in a case widely seen as a test of Indonesia's
willingness to crack down on radical Islam.
"(The defendant) is proven guilty convincingly by law
of having commited a criminal act of taking part in acts of
treason," said presiding chief judge Muhammad Saleh.
Saleh then asked the court "to hand down the verdict
against the defendant a four-year prison time".
Bashir had been charged with treason linked to church
bombings that killed 19 people three years ago and also to
an aborted plot to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri
when she was vice president.
Following his verdict, Bashir said he would appeal the
sentence and urged his militant supporters to remain calm.
"Agreeing to this court is haram (forbidden by Islam),
therefore I cannot accept this verdict and I will appeal,"
Bashir said.
The sentence, however, was likely to disappoint
regional officials and Western diplomats who had hoped the
five-judge panel would give Bashir -- described by
authorities as the spiritual leader of a militant network
behind acts of violence throughout Southeast Asia -- the
full 15 years prosecutors had asked for.
The court had accepted prosecutors' arguments that
Bashir participated in treason, but not their contention
that he led the acts or the network, Jemaah Islamiah.
Some 300 supporters of the 65-year-old cleric waited to
hear the verdict for hours outside the court venue amid
tight security.
"During Suharto's era Abu Bakar Bashir had been wrongly
prosecuted for thirteen years and sentenced to four years.
And now, again, he was prosecuted for fifteen years and
also sentenced to four years. The government of Indonesia
is repeating the same mistake. It's pure vengeance," said
spokesperson of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council, Irvan
Awwas, following the verdict.
Fears of a backlash following the verdict did not
materialise as Bashir's supporters later on dispersed
peacefully.
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