Jailed Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has been named as the leader of al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group and encouraged militants to launch 2002 Bali bombings, and a suicide attack last year on an Indonesian hotel, according to court documents.
Yesterday, lawyers for Bashir said this attempt -- as with previous ones -- would fail to find him guilty of being the inspirational head of Southeast Asia's biggest terror group blamed for a string of attacks in Indonesia beginning in 1999 that have killed 224 people and wounded hundreds more.
Planning meetings
Prosecutors filed charges Friday at the South Jakarta District Court alleging that Bashir and other men held meetings in Thailand and in Indonesia's Central Java province to plan the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people.
The main charge accuses Bashir of ordering a deadly suicide bombing at the J.W. Marriott hotel last year that killed 12 people.
A copy of the indictment obtained by reporters named Bashir as "as amir or leader of a group" of Jemaah Islamiyah, "responsible for swearing in members, giving sanctions to members who violates the group's rules and authorizing the group's decisions."
"The evidence and testimony against him are weak so the charges won't stick," said Bashir's lawyer, Wirawan Adnan. "But, there is such strong political will to see him jailed."
Bashir was the guest of honor at an April 2000 military training in the Philippines and ordered his men to deliver a fatwa or religious edict from Osama Bin Laden, whom Bashir met in Afghanistan, to "allow war and the killing of Americans and their allies," the indictment said.
Prosecutors said this speech encouraged his disciples to plan the Marriott and Bali attacks.
In August 2002 in East Java, several Bali bombers allegedly met Bashir asking his blessings "to hold an event in Bali." Bashir replied: "It is up to you because you know the situation on the field," the indictment said.
Bashir is charged under the criminal code over the Bali attacks, and faces a life sentence if found guilty. He is charged under a tough anti-terror law passed after the Bali blasts in connection with the Marriott blast, and faces a maximum penalty of death.
Anti-terror law
Prosecutors had wanted to charge Bashir over the Bali attacks using the anti-terror law -- which requires less burden of proof -- but were forced drop the plans after the country's top court ruled earlier this year that retroactively applying the law was unconstitutional.
The Bali and Marriott blasts have both been blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah.
Bashir was cleared of terror charges last year, but was convicted of immigration violations. He was re-arrested in April after completing his sentence.
The US and Australia have campaigned to keep Bashir imprisoned, accusing him of heading Jemaah Islamiyah and orchestrating terror attacks. Prosecutors have not said whether they will formally charge him with leading the group.
Bashir has denied any involvement in terrorism. Under Indonesian law, his trial must begin within two weeks after formal charges are announced.
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