LAKSAMANA.Net, February 3, 2005 04:09 AM
Baasyir's Trial Nears Conclusion
Laksamana.Net - A verdict in the terrorism trial of radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar
Baasyir is expected by the end of this month or in early March, with his lawyers
anticipating he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
His trial commenced at South Jakarta District Court in October and must conclude
within five months in accordance with Indonesian law.
Testifying on Tuesday (1/2/05), the cleric formally denied leading regional terrorism
network Jemaah Islamiyah and insisted he was not involved in the Bali and JW
Marriott Hotel bombings.
Baasyir said the attacks were not in line with the Islamic principle of jihad, which he
defined as an act of self-defense to be conducted in "conflict zones" such as
Afghanistan.
"I could not have supported the Marriott and Bali bombings because they were
committed in places of peace and not conflict zones," he was quoted as saying by
the Associated Press.
Baasyir is charged with inciting his followers to carry out the October 2002 Bali
nightclub bombings that killed 202 people and the August 2003 blast that killed 12
people at Jakarta's Marriott Hotel.
Prosecutors also say he visited a Jemaah Islamiyah military training camp in the
southern Philippines in April 2000 and passed on an edict from Osama bin Laden
calling for killings of Americans and their allies. The cleric could face the death
penalty if found guilty of terrorism.
Baasyir has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed he is being tried at the
behest of the US and Australia. His denials have usually been made to reporters
before and after his trial sessions or in response to witness testimonies, but Tuesday
was the first time he directly responded to the charges in court.
The cleric strongly denied any involvement in Jemaah Islamiyah, claiming he first
heard about the organization when he went on trial.
"When I was staying in Malaysia for 15 years, I had never heard [about JI]," he was
quoted as saying by xinhuanet.
Baasyir was in 1978 convicted of subversion and sentenced to nine years in jail for
links to two Islamic militia groups – Komando Jihad and Darul Islam – accused of
seeking to establish an Islamic state. He was also convicted of distributing
"inflammatory" literature calling for jihad against enemies of Islam. Komando Jihad
and Darul Islam allegedly obtained covert backing from former dictator Suharto's
intelligence chief Ali Murtopo in an effort to identify and then discredit proponents of
radical Islam.
In 1982 Baasyir was released from jail after serving nearly four years of his subversion
sentence. He continued his work underground for the cause of establishing Islamic
law in Indonesia, but fled to Malaysia in 1985 to escape further imprisonment. It was
there that he allegedly co-founded Jemaah Islamiyah with fellow Indonesian cleric
Abdullah Sungkar. He also allegedly met with an Afghanistan War veteran from West
Java called Hambali, who went on to become operational commander of Jemaah
Islamiyah.
Baasyir returned to Indonesia following Suharto's resignation in May 1998 and
resumed his role as head of an Islamic boarding school in Solo, Central Java.
Prosecutors claim he inherited the leadership of Jemaah Islamiyah in 1999 following
the death of Sungkar.
In August 2000 Baasyir co-founded the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), which
wants secular Indonesia to adopt strict Islamic law.
He was arrested shortly after the Bali bombings, which he claimed were perpetrated
by Americans and Jews to justify claims that Indonesia is a terrorist haven. He was
tried at Central Jakarta District Court in 2003, accused of treason, leading Jemaah
Islamiyah, authorizing bombings, immigration offenses and falsifying identity
documents. He was cleared of the terror-related charges and served 18 months in jail
for immigration violations and forging documents. He was re-arrested as soon as he
had completed the sentence, with police saying they had new evidence linking him to
terrorism.
The cleric on Tuesday confirmed he was chairman of MMI. "In 2000, I attended the
MMI congress in Yogyakarta but only appeared as a speaker. I happened to be
appointed MMI leader at the congress but I was not asked to lead JI," he was quoted
as saying by state news agency Antara.
He said MMI aims to formalize Islamic laws through propagation and jihad in
accordance with Islamic teachings. MMI also conducts its struggle through
educational activities as well as seminars, he added.
Baasyir admitted he lived in Malaysia from 1985 to 1999, saying he was there solely
to earn a living to support his family. He claimed he could not remember all of the
people he had met with in Malaysia, but admitted he had gone there with Sungkar.
"But Abdullah Sungkar was not the leader of JI," he said.
He said the Marriott bombing should not have been viewed as an act of jihad because
it took place in a peaceful area. "I understand that the perpetrators intended the
bombing to be an act defending Islam but they did it at the wrong place. If they
wanted to wage holy war against the US, they should go to Afghanistan or other
countries but not Indonesia, which is not a country where a conflict is taking place,"
he said.
He also pointed out that he was imprisoned at Central Jakarta's Salemba jail when the
Marriott bombing occurred.
Baasyir denied accusations that he had visited Jemaah Islamiyah's Camp Hudaibiyah
in the southern Philippines and delivered a speech calling for jihad against enemies of
Islam.
He admitted having traveled to Singapore, Australia and Germany, but said the visits
were solely for religious proselytizing. He said he also once visited Pakistan to enroll
one of his children at a college there, but denied having met Osama bin Laden during
the trip.
"I did once listen to a speech by Osama through a cassette. One of Osama's
instructions was to face the US by jihad," he was quoted as saying by Antara.
Baasyir's lawyers are confident he will be acquitted, as the case against him has
been weakened by many witnesses who have withdrawn their earlier statements or
refused to give evidence.
The trial will resume next week when prosecutors are due to submit their sentencing
demand. The panel of five judges is expected to hand down a verdict in the next three
weeks.
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