|
Bashir played no part in Marriott bombing: inmate
An Indonesian militant jailed for the Jakarta Marriott hotel bombing has told the trial of Abu Bakar Bashir that the alleged Jemaah Islamiah (JI) leader played no role in the attack. Bashir is facing terrorism charges, and criminal charges relating to the 2002 Bali bombing. "Only five of us had knowledge of plans to bomb the Marriott," Ismail told the South Jakarta court. He told the court the five who knew were himself; two fugitive Malaysians, Noordin Mohammad Top and Azahari Husin; the suicide bomber, Asmar Latin Sani, and a man named Tohir.
| How convenient. And of course we all believe him. |
Ismail said Noordin, who along with Azahari is also wanted for the 2002 Bali bombings, picked the US-run hotel because it was "the easiest" target. Twelve people were killed in the bombing in August 2003. Ismail is serving a 12-year jail term for the hotel attack. Ismail said he met Bashir in 1996 in Malaysia but never saw the cleric giving inflammatory speeches calling for attacks on "Muslim enemies."
| "He kept babbling on and on 'bout how the 'lion would lie down with the lamb'. We all thought he was crazy." |
Tohir, who was jailed for 10 years for the hotel bombing, told the court Noordin was the mastermind of the Marriott attack and Bashir had never given the order or funds.
| The one lies and the other backs him up. |
The testimony was an apparent blow to part of the prosecution case against Bashir. The cleric is accused of inciting followers to carry out the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, and of plotting the Marriott attack while he was in custody. If found guilty he could face a death sentence. Prosecutors also say that Bashir, as JI chief, visited a rebel military training camp in April 2000 and relayed a "ruling from Osama bin Laden which permitted attacks and killings of Americans and their allies." But another witness, self-confessed JI member Yudi Lukito, said Bashir gave a speech calling for Islamic brotherhood at a ceremony held by JI in 2000.
| Islamic brotherhood? That does it; guilty as charged. |
The ceremony was held at Camp Abu Bakar, which was run by the Phillipine rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Mindanao island. "All Muslims are brothers so we have to help each other so as to kill more infidels!," Lukito, 30, quoted Bashir as saying at the ceremony. Bashir, 66, denied he made a trip to the Philippines in 2000. "In 2000 I was in Indonesia and I didn't go anywhere," he told the court.
Posted by: God Save The World 2004-12-03 |
