LAKSAMANA.Net, September 6, 2004 03:08 PM
Baasyir's Supporters Clash With Police
Laksamana.Net - Supporters of radical Muslim preacher Abu Bakar Baasyir clashed
with police on Monday (6/9/04) after a Jakarta court threw out the cleric's pre-trial
lawsuit that claimed he had been wrongfully arrested and detained on terrorism
charges.
The violence erupted at South Jakarta District Court after presiding judge Syamsul Ali
ruled that police had arrested and detained Baasyir in line with the Code of Criminal
Procedure.
Baasyir's lawyers had filed the suit after the cleric was released from Salemba prison
on April 30 and immediately re-arrested under Indonesia's anti-terror laws on
suspicion of involvement in a string of terrorist attacks across the country.
Dozens of members of Baasyir's Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), mostly from the
Central Java city of Solo, were enraged by the court's decision and shouted insults
such as "tyrannical judge!" and "American judge!".
One of the cleric's supporters then took off his sandal and threw it at the judges.
Pasar Minggu District Police chief Commissioner Didi tried to calm down the angry
crowd but was punched in the head by one of the cleric's supporters.
Dozens of South Jakarta Police officers quickly entered the courtroom and traded
blows with Baasyir's supporters before forcing them to leave. The youths then left the
scene in two buses that had brought them to the court.
Evidence
Last month police submitted to state prosecutors a dossier of evidence against
Baasyir, who is suspected of being the spiritual leader of regional terrorism network
Jemaah Islamiyah.
Police had to drop references to Baasyir's alleged involvement in the October 2002
Bali nightclub bombings after the Constitutional Court in July ruled that Law
No.16/2003 on Terrorism could not be used retroactively.
Judge Ali said Baasyir's detention was legal because police had not charged him
under Law No.16/2003. Instead, he said, the cleric has been charged with violating
articles 14, 15, 17 and 18 of Law No.15/2003 on Terrorism, which does not cover
retroactive cases.
Reports say Baasyir will be charged with involvement in the August 2003 bomb blast
that killed 12 people at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel, as well as the July 2003 discovery
of explosives and guns allegedly possessed by a Jemaah Islamiyah cell in the Central
Java capital of Semarang.
One of Baasyir's lawyers, Ahmad Michdan, accused the judge of lacking the courage
to order the cleric be released on the basis of the Constitutional Court's decision to
overturn Law No.16/2003.
Jemaah Islamiyah
Baasyir was first arrested back in 1978 and sentenced to nine years in jail for
subversion for links to two outlawed Islamic militia groups. He was released from
prison in 1982 and fled to Malaysia in 1985 to escape further charges. It was while in
Malaysia that he allegedly co-founded Jemaah Islamiyah.
He returned to Indonesia following the May 1998 resignation of former president
Suharto and resumed his role as head of the Al-Mukmin Islamic Boarding School in
Ngruki, near Solo.
Police arrested Baasyir on October 19, 2002, in the aftermath of the Bali bombings,
but authorities at that time were unable to produce any hard evidence linking him to
the attacks.
Although an avowed supporter of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the cleric has
consistently denied any involvement in Jemaah Islamiyah and insists all of the
accusations against him are part of a US-led conspiracy to discredit Islam.
In September 2003, Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Baasyir to four years in
prison for treason, immigration violations and forging documents. But the court said he
was not guilty of leading Jemaah Islamiyah or masterminding a plot to use religious
violence to overthrow the government.
In December 2003, Jakarta High Court announced it had overturned the cleric's
treason conviction and reduced his jail sentence to three years. In March 2004, the
Supreme Court further reduced the sentence to one and a half years.
The sentence reductions meant the cleric was released on April 30 – at which point
police immediately re-arrested him, citing new evidence to charge him with leading
Jemaah Islamiyah.
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