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Indonesian prosecutors fail to implicate Bashir
Attempts by Indonesian prosecutors to link a radical Muslim cleric to terrorist bombings suffered a blow on Thursday when five people convicted over the blasts failed to implicate him. Abu Bakar Bashir, 66, is on trial for inciting followers to carry out the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings in which 202 people died, and plotting an August 2003 attack on the Jakarta Marriott hotel in which 12 were killed. Police and prosecutors claim he heads Jemaah Islamiyah, a group said to have links to Al-Qaeda and blamed for attacks including the Bali and Marriott blasts and the September bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta. If convicted he faces a maximum death penalty.The case is seen as a test of new President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's commitment to tackling extremists in his country. Foreign governments, who view Bashir as a major threat, are keen to see a conviction. But in a succession of testimonies, five prominent figures convicted over the Bali and Marriott bombings all denied knowledge of Bashir's involvement. Among those giving evidence were key Bali bomber Idris, alias Mohammad Ikshan, and Rusman Gunawan, the younger brother of alleged Jemaah Islamiyah mastermined Hambali -- who is currently in US custody. Also appearing were self-confessed group members Adhi Suryana and Utomo alias Abu Faruq and Samuri, convicted for harbouring terrorist fugitives. Gunawan, serving a four-year term for helping fund the Marriott strike, told judges he had never met Bashir although he encountered the cleric's son in Pakistan before he (Gunawan) was deported last December on suspicion of terrorism. "I have never received any assistance (from Bashir)," he said. Idris, sentenced to 10 years for the Bali bombing, admitted he had met the suicide bomber in the Marriott attack and knew Azahari Husin, a Malaysian explosives expert who allegedly helped make the Marriott and Bali bombs. But he said although he had studied at Bashir's Islamic boarding school in central Java, he had no direct knowledge of the cleric who had "never" ordered the bombings. "I don't even know him. How could he have given me an instruction?" Idris told the court. Witness Suryana, a Jemaah Islamiyah member who trained for eight months at a camp run by Muslim rebels in the southern Phillipines, also said he had "never heard anyone talk about" Bashir's role in either bombing. Prosecutors say Bashir, as head of he terror group, visited a Philippine rebel training camp in April 2000 and relayed a "ruling from Osama bin Laden which permitted attacks and killings of Americans and their allies." Suryana said he had neither been inspired by Bashir's sermon nor received instructions from the cleric to attack the Marriott hotel. Bashir was cleared last year by an Indonesian court of leading Jemaah Islamiyah, which seeks to create an Islamic fundamentalist state in Southeast Asia, but police say they have new evidence of his leadershop role. The cleric was arrested a week after the Bali blasts and has remained in detention ever since. Prosecutors have said in their indictment that he orchestrated the Marriott bombing from his cell. Bashir has described the indictment as "legal fiction" and said he had nothing to gain from acts of terrorism since they would only fuel interference in Indonesia by Washington. Posted by: tipper 2004-12-09 |
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