The jailed cleric accused of heading a militant group blamed for last week's Australian embassy bombing condemned the attack on Saturday, while accusing Indonesian authorities of trying to frame him. "I personally condemn the bombing (and) I am deeply sorry and express my condolences to the victims," Abu Bakar Bashir said according to his lawyer Wirawan Adnan who had visited the cleric in his cell in Cipinang Prison.
Abu Bakar Bashir has been in jail since 2002, when he was convicted for minor immigration infractions. Prosecutors say they now plan to charge him with heading JI, and for a deadly bombing last year at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12. There has been speculation that he could also be charged over the latest embassy attack. Bashir has repeatedly denied any involvement in terrorism and claimed that Jakarta buckled under pressure from Washington to arrest him as part of a crackdown on Islamic activists in the world's most populous Muslim nation. "I deny all accusations that connect the bombing with me," Bashir said. "I had nothing to do with the Kuningan bombing, the Marriott bombing or any other bombing. Terrorists must be punished and eliminated for good." Adnan told reporters that Bashir was convinced that the police were trying to make him a scapegoat to cover up their failure to prevent terrorist attacks. "At the time of the Marriott bombing I was locked up for eight months. How can that be?" Bashir said, according to his attorney. |