ABC AUSTRALIA, 22/01/2003 08:32:24
JI leader to charged with treason, bomb attacks
Police in Indonesia say the leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah group, Abu Bakar Bashir,
will be charged with treason and a series of bomb attacks.
Police say they have given prosecutors files of evidence on the Muslim cleric, who
has been detained for the past three months.
The prosecutors will determine which charges to put to Bashir in court but he's
expected to be charged under two articles in the criminal code on treason and attacks
using explosives.
They carry a maximum sentence of life and 15 years in prison respectively.
Bashir is accused of treason through a plot to kill Megawati Sukarnoputri when she
was still vice president, and of masterminding a spate of bomb attacks on Indonesian
churches on Christmas Eve 2000.
A date for the trial has not been set.
Abu Bakar Bashir is not a suspect in the Bali bombings in October and has denied
links to terrorism.
But police say some suspects have confessed that they were inspired by his
sermons.
22/01/2003 08:32:24 | ABC Radio Australia News
© 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
