An Indonesian Muslim cleric went on trial yesterday accused of leading the Al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) Southeast Asian terror network behind the the deadly Bali and Marriott hotel bombings.
Prosecutor Salman Maryadi accused Abu Bakar Bashir, 66, of having "planned and/or incited others to engage in a crime of terrorism."
He could face death if found guilty under tough anti-terrorism laws issued after the Bali attacks.
The trial is being seen by the West as a test of newly elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's commitment to stamping out terrorism.
In yesterday's three-hour hear-ing, Maryadi said Bashir had played a key role in last year's Jakarta Marriott hotel bombing which killed 12 people.
The bespectacled Bashir, sporting a white Muslim cap and a white shawl, declared his innocence after arriving at the court flanked by heavily armed anti-terrorism police.
Around 650 police including snipers ringed the court building as Bashir's trial got underway amid shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) from his supporters.
Prosecutors told the heavily-guarded courtroom in South Jakarta that the defendant led JI, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Southeast Asia through armed holy war. The group, seen as Al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian proxy, had formed a military training camp called Camp Hudaibiyah in the southern Philippines to train members for Jihad.
Maryadi said Bashir, as JI chief, visited the military training camp in April 2000 and relayed a "ruling from Osama bin Laden which permitted attacks and killings of Americans and their allies."
As JI leader, he also received reports from the head of the camp, said the 65-page thick indictment read in turn by several prosecutors.
Several members of the group who trained at the academy went on to conduct terrorist actions, it says. Among them were Azahari Husin and Noordin Muhammad Top, two Malaysians accused of involvement in both the Bali and Marriott attacks and are fugitives.
Police say they are the prime suspects behind the Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta last month, which killed 10 people.
Bashir is not charged with the embassy blast.
In a second count, Bashir faces a possible 20 years to life in prison for involvement in "a sinister conspiracy" which endangers or costs the lives of others. The charge relates to the Bali bombing, which killed 202 people on Oct. 12, 2002.
Speaking after the hearing, Maryadi said Bashir had known of the hotel bombing plan but failed to report it to the authorities, while the Bali bomb attack took place because he had urged JI members to attack America.
"I ask the panel of judges and the prosecutors to beware of efforts to intervene by the enemies of Allah. There should be no infiltration," Bashir said in his comment to the court, referring to the US and Australia which he has repeatedly blamed for his detention and trial.
Bashir who earlier yesterday protested his innocence, said after the hearing that "I am never disappointed because I am right, defending the religion."
"We should eradicate terrorism, but not the terrorism as defined by George Bush. All who do not agree with the interest of George Bush are terrorists," Bashir said.
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