The Jakarta Post, 3/8/2005 5:55:09 PM
New Zealand asks Indonesia about appeal over Ba'asyir
sentence
WELLINGTON (DPA): New Zealand has formally asked the Indonesian government
whether it intends to appeal the lenient 30-month sentence handed down to spiritual
leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir after he was convicted of conspiracy over the Bali
bombings, Foreign Minister Phil Goff told parliament on Tuesday.
But Goff stressed that it was making no demands on the issue, adding: "I am mindful
of the fact that to demand such a thing, and for the Indonesian government to be seen
to be responding to a foreign government's demand, would be totally counterproductive
to what we are all trying to achieve against terrorism inIndonesia."
Goff was replying to a question from one of his ownbackbenchers designed to
embarrass opposition leader Don Brash, of the conservative National Party, who
called on the government to withdraw its ambassador to Jakarta in protest at the
sentence.
The government had already pointed out that Brash's demand defied diplomatic
protocol in that no government could be held responsible for a ruling by its own
independent judiciary.
In his reply, Goff praised the Jakarta government, saying: "Indonesia's track record in
bringing Bali bombers to justice has in fact been extraordinarily good, and that the
inability of prosecutors and the justice system to make serious charges against
Ba'asyir stick is separate from the decision-makingprocess of the executive."
He said there was overwhelming evidence that Indonesia had cooperated actively on
investigations with countries whose citizens were victims of the bombing, and had
worked hard to collect evidence, bring charges, and secure convictions of the Bali
bombers.
"With the high number of convictions, to a large extent the Indonesian justice system
has been successful in doing so, notwithstanding the disappointment we share with
others that thecourt did not regard evidence on the most serious charges against
Ba'asyir as being sufficient to convict," he said. (**)
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