The Jakarta Post, 4/6/2005 3:47:15 PM
Indonesian cleric Ba'asyir appeals sentence
JAKARTA (DPA): Indonesian militant Moslem cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir filed an
appeal Wednesday against his 30-month prison sentence for being part of the
conspiracy behind the Bali bombings in 2002.
A team of defence lawyers for Ba'asyir submitted a legal brief to to the South Jakarta
district court, which will later be handed over to the Jakarta High Court.
In early March, the South Jakarta district court sentenced Ba'asyir to 30 months in
prison for his involvement in an "evil conspiracy" that led to the Bali bombings on
October 12, 2002 and left 202 people dead, mostly foreign tourists.
But the court cleared the 66-year-old Moslem cleric on charges of planning or inciting
terrorist attacks.
The lenient sentence sparked criticism from Western countries, in particular the
United States and Australia, where Ba'asyir is widely seen as the leader of the
al-Qaeda-linked regional terror group Jama'ah Islamiyah (JI), blamed for a string of
bombing attacks inSoutheast Asia in recent years.
However, legal experts expressed no surprise over Ba'asyir's light sentence because
the prosecution was plagued by shaky evidence and fickle witnesses.
Ba'asyir was first arrested a week after the Bali bombings on October 12, 2002. He
was put on trial the following year.
Using the ordinary criminal code the court said there was not enough evidence to
prove Ba'asyir led JI. However, the court sentenced him to 18 months for immigration
offences.
Police rearrested Ba'asyir in late April 2004, immediately after being released from
jail, and charged him with Indonesia's anti-terror law passed in the wake of the Bali
bombings. (*)
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