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| Southeast Asia |
| Thalib's trial postponed cuz he 'looks sickly'... |
| 2002-08-01 |
| Indonesia continues to play games with terrorism... The trial of Laskar Jihad chief Jafar Umar Thalib, charged with inciting religious violence, has been delayed for two weeks because a Jakarta court declared he was too pale to be questioned. "I see that you're pale. We don't want to examine someone who is unhealthy... I hope you can get well soon," judge Mansyur Nasution was quoted as saying. He then adjourned the trial until August 15, giving the chubby, bearded defendant two weeks to get over his affliction of looking pale. Poor man. He's probably not getting enough raw flesh in his diet... Jafar, wearing a white robe and turban, thanked the judge for giving him the opportunity to get some rest. Jafar, who denies any wrongdoing, was arrested on May 4, 2002, in the East Java capital Surabaya for allegedly inciting an April 28 massacre of Christian villagers in Ambon, Maluku province. He was later transferred to a cell in Jakarta and released temporarily on July 25 after he promised to attend his trial. "Now, don't you go gettin' in no trouble, y'hear?" Police had initially charged him with stirring up religious hatred, inciting hatred against the government, as well as insulting President Megawati Sukarnoputri. The charges stem from Jafar’s speech that was broadcast by radio in Maluku prior to the April 28 massacre of Christians. He faces a maximum sentence of seven years in jail if found guilty and has hired a team of six lawyers to defend him. Jafar on Wednesday told the Associated Press that he believed the US was behind his arrest. He also claimed that a transcript of his speech had been fabricated by police to discredit Laskar Jihad. The tape was fabricated, too. So was the radio broadcast. So was the entire island of Maluku. It's all a plot... Jafar’s arrest had been lauded by Western nations and was seen as positive move by Megawati’s administration in the war against terror. But Jafar, who once fought alongside members of Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda organization, insists Laskar Jihad is not linked to any international terrorist networks. "No, no. We're strictly a domestic terrorist network..." Megawati last week expressed her displeasure with radical groups, warning against "narrow fanaticism", although she stopped short mentioning any names. That's because she doesn't want her car to blow up... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 Megawatti will probably go down in history in the same column as Louis XVIII, the last king of the French, and Gorbachev, the last General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. |
| Posted by: Tom Roberts 2002-08-02 05:18:38 |