Militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was yesterday charged under tough anti-terror laws for a deadly attack on a Jakarta hotel, but despite mounting international pressure Indonesian prosecutors say he will not be tried over the Bali bombings.
Bashir was also charged with heading the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, blamed for both the August last year Jakarta Marriott hotel blast which left 12 dead and the October 2002 Bali bomb strikes in which 202 were killed.
"He has been charged with terrorism," prosecutor Haryono told reporters, shortly after the elderly preacher was transferred from police detention to a state prison in Jakarta. He faces the death penalty.
The move to charge Bashir, 65, follows weeks of fraught legal wrangling which have seen police and prosecutors rush to build a case after a ruling by Indonesia's top court robbed them of the right to convict Bashir over Bali.
Last month the Constitutional Court said anti-terror legislation rushed into law in the wake of the Bali blasts could not be applied retrospectively to cover that attack -- although it can be used to try suspects in the Marriott strike.
The court said existing Bali-related convictions will stand, but a judge's decision on Tuesday which dismissed charges against a key suspect in the resort island attacks has fuelled fears that many key bombers will escape justice.
Jhoni Hendrawan, alias Idris, was jailed for 10 years for his role in the Marriott blast, but judges said despite his admission he took part in the Bali strike, he would not be tried for that attack.
An appeal court last year cleared Bashir of terror links but upheld a lesser jail sentence for immigration-related offences. He was released in April, but immediately rearrested, prompting violent protests from his supporters.
Although Indonesian prosecutors can no longer charge Bashir directly for the Bali attack, they insist they have now built a watertight case against the cleric and say he will face heavy punishment over the Marriott attack and his Jemaah Islamiyah involvement.
"We have a strong case, otherwise we would not have approved the police dossier," attorney general's office spokesman Kiemas Yahya Rachman told reporters.
The indictment against Bashir accuses him of forging Jemaah Islamiyah out of a militant Islamic group created in 1993. He is also accused of attending a terrorist graduation ceremony at a camp in the Philippines which trained the Marriott and Bali bombers.
A calm-looking Bashir, dressed in a traditional Muslim cap and clothes, was paraded briefly in front of journalists after he was charged yesterday, before being whisked under heavy security to a Jakarta jail, where he can be held for a maximum of 60 days.
"I do not accept the arrest," he said, denouncing the move as part of a US-masterminded plot against Islam.
Lawyers representing Bashir also condemned the charges. They said the cleric could not have been involved in the Marriott attack as he was behind bars at the time and accused authorities of using him as a scapegoat.
"Is our detention system so chaotic that someone who was being detained and was on trial could stage a terror attack? This is a fabricated trial. It has something to do with international politics," said lawyer Luthfi Hakim.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS