INDONESIA: KEY WITNESS TELLS COURT THAT ABU BAKAR BASHIR WAS CHIEF OF JEMAAH ISLAMIAH , MILITANT MUSLIM ORGANISATION
Record ID:
648227
INDONESIA: KEY WITNESS TELLS COURT THAT ABU BAKAR BASHIR WAS CHIEF OF JEMAAH ISLAMIAH , MILITANT MUSLIM ORGANISATION
- Title: INDONESIA: KEY WITNESS TELLS COURT THAT ABU BAKAR BASHIR WAS CHIEF OF JEMAAH ISLAMIAH , MILITANT MUSLIM ORGANISATION
- Date: 21st December 2004
- Summary: (W3) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (DECEMBER 21, 2004) (REUTERS -ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV ABU BAKAR BASHIR ENTERING COURT, TAKING DEFENDANT SEAT 0.12 2. WIDE OF AUDIENCE SHOUTING "GOD THE GREATEST" 0.17 3. CLOSE-UP OF SUPPORTER WEARING HEADSCARF OVER FACE 0.23 4. WIDE PANEL OF JUDGES 0.30 5. SCU PRESIDING JUDGE SUDARTO OPENING COURT SESSION 0.36 6. WIDE OF BASHIR WALKING TO TAKE SEAT NEXT TO DEFENSE TEAM 0.46 7. CLOSE-UP OF BASHIR SITTING NEXT TO HIS LAWYER 0.49 8. WIDE OF WITNESS NASIR ABBAS ENTERING COURT, TAKING WITNESS STAND 1.08 9. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Bahasa Malaysia) WITNESS NASIR ABBAS SAYING: "We wanted this achievement, the first graduates, to be seen by Jemaah Islamiah's Emir (spiritual leader). (Q: So the defendant attended the ceremony?) Yes, he came" 1.20 10. CLOSE-UP OF SUPPORTER JEERING AT WITNESS' TESTIMONY 1.25 11. WIDE OF AUDIENCE 1.30 12. SCU BASHIR WATCHING 1.38 13. WIDE OF NASIR ABBAS 1.43 13. (SOUNDBITE)(Bahasa Malaysia) WITNESS NASIR ABBAS SAYING: "Osama bin Laden urged all Muslims by saying that it is O.K. to kill civilians from America and its allies, wherever they are. (Q: How was the fatwa distributed among the JI?) When I received the printed copy from Ustad Mustafa, he asked me to convey the message to followers in Sabah. He also said that Ustad Abu (Bakar Bashir) had given the order to spread the fatwa to all district leaders" 2.26 14. PAN FROM PANEL JUDGE TO AUDIENCE 2.38 (W3) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (DECEMBER21, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 15. SLV DEFENCE LAWYER SHOUTING WHILE FILING OBJECTION TO COURT, SHOUTING "GOD THE GREATEST" TO THE AUDIENCE 2.41 16. WIDE OF SUPPORTERS UPSET AT ABBAS' TESTIMONY CHARGING TO MIDDLE OF COURT 2.46 17. WIDE OF SECURITY TAKING ABBAS TO SAFETY 2.55 18. MORE OF SUPPORTERS DURING SCUFFLE 3.10 19. WIDE OF PROSECUTORS LEAVING FOR SAFETY 3.14 20. SLV LINE UP OF POLICE 3.19 21. VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS LEAVING BUILDING WHILE SESSION TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED 3.25 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 5th January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVAD5V1UCZEG80LX0Z2991JJ4KOT
- Story Text: Key witness tells Indonesia court that Bashir was
Jemaah Islamiah chief.
A key witness in the trial of Indonesian cleric
Abu Bakar Bashir told a court on Tuesday (December 21) that
the aging firebrand preacher was head of Jemaah Islamiah, a
militant group seen as the Southeast Asian arm of al Qaeda.
Nasir Abbas, a Malaysian who claims to have been a
Jemaah Islamiah instructor at a camp in the southern
Philippines, said Bashir visited the camp in April 2000 and
spoke at a graduation ceremony for militant recruits.
"Yes, he came," said Abbas. "We wanted this
achievement, the first graduates, to be seen by Jemaah
Islamiah's Emir (spiritual leader)".
Prosecutors have accused Bashir, 66, of using his
"religious charisma" to incite bomb attacks on Bali island
in 2002 that killed 202 people and also a suicide blast
outside the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last year that
killed 12.
Bashir is also facing charges he leads Jemaah Islamiah,
a shadowy group blamed for the Bali and Marriott attacks
among others.
Abbas also said Bashir had given him funds for the
"Udaibiyah" training camp and met with Osama bin Laden in
Afghanistan. "Osama bin Laden urged all Muslims by saying that it
i
s
okay now to kill civilians from America and its allies,
where ever they are," Abbas told the court about receiving
a copy of Osama's fatwa in Arabic on terror attacks against
civilians.
"When I received the printed copy from Ustad Mustafa,
he asked me to convey the message to followers in Sabah. He
also said that Ustad Abu (Bakar Bashir) had given the order
to spread the fatwa to all district leaders," he added.
Bashir, who was a silent presence in the court on
Tuesday, has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has
said he does not know the witnesses.
Dozens of supporters attending the session jeered at
Abbas, yelling that he was lying. The rowdiness of the
audience caused the court to temporarily suspend the
questioning of Tuesday's witnesses.
In addition to Abbas, two other key witnesses had been
due to testify on Tuesday but did not turn up.
Ali Imron and Mubarok, two of the convicted Bali
bombers now in jail, snubbed a summons to appear. They said
in letters read before the court that they had testified in
previous trails and had nothing more to say.
A previous effort after the Bali bombings to convict
Bashir of leading Jemaah Islamiah failed. The cleric did,
however, serve 18 months for immigration violations and was
re-arrested using anti-terror statutes in April.
His trial began in October and is expected to drag on
into next year.
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