ABC AUSTRALIA, 10/03/2005, 09:42:36
Indonesian prosecutors to appeal against cleric's light sentence
Indonesian prosecutors have appealed against the light sentence imposed on the
Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, who was convicted for involvement in an alleged
conspiracy that led to the Bali bombing.
The bomb blasts in 2002 killed 202 people, mostly Australians.
Indonesia correspondent, Tim Palmer reports, a day after Bashir's lawyers filed their
own appeal seeking acquittal, prosecutors say they will ask a higher court to
reconsider some of the charges on which the cleric was cleared.
Within hours of the verdict last week in which Abu Bakar Bashir was sentenced to two
and a half years jail, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer asked Australia's Jakarta
Embassy to contact Indonesian authorities about pursuing an appeal against the
leniency of the sentence.
Mr Downer's actions and similar remarks from the US State Department have
generated comment in local newspapers and from religious and political figures, all
claiming Australia and the United States were trying to intervene in Indonesia's justice
system.
But now the prosecutors have confirmed an appeal has been lodged and that it goes
beyond the question of leniency.
They they claim that the 30 month jail term is inadequate given their request for an
eight year term.
They have also lodged an appeal against Abu Bakar Bashir's acquittal on a range of
the more serious charges put during the terrorism trial.
©2005 ABC
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