ABC AUSTRALIA, 31/03/2004 23:00:31
US accused of plotting to keep terror suspect Bashir in prison
The United States has been accused of plotting to keep radical Muslim cleric, Abu
Bakar Bashir, behind bars in Indonesia.
Bashir's lawyer, Mohammad Assegaf, says Washington's decision to give Jakarta 125
transcripts from top terror suspect, Hambali's interrogation, is an attempt to
"engineer" a new case against Bashir in Indonesia.
The Indonesian foreign ministry has confirmed it has received the transcripts
containing "valuable intelligence information" from Hambali's interrogation.
Bashir is to be released from a Jakarta prison on April 30 after the supreme court
halved a three-year sentence for immigration offences and document forgery.
At Bashir's original trial prosecutors alleged he headed Jemaah Islamiyah, authorised
the network's church bombings in Indonesia, which killed 19 people on Christmas Eve
2000, and plotted to blow up US targets in Singapore.
He was convicted of taking part in a JI plot to overthrow the government but judges
said there was no proof he had led the network.
They jailed him for four years for treason and for immigration-related offences.
An appeal court in November overturned the treason conviction but said Bashir must
serve three years for immigration and forgery offences.
31/03/2004 23:00:31 | ABC Radio Australia News
© 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
