An Indonesian court has rejected a bid by a detained cleric accused of being the spiritual leader of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network to be released from jail.
Muslim preacher Abu Bakar Bashir (65) was rearrested on April 30th after he finished serving 18 months in jail for minor immigration offences. He is awaiting formal terror-related charges.
The cleric's lawyers had argued his arrest and detention had no legal basis after the constitutional court annulled key anti-terrorism legislation in July.
However, a judge of the South Jakarta court said police still had sufficient evidence to hold Bashir.
The court had already rejected a previous attempt by Bashir's lawyers in June to free him on the basis of lack of evidence.
Jemaah Islamiah is accused of carrying out the Bali nightclub bombings in 2002 that killed 202 people, but Bashir has denied wrongdoing and insists Jemaah Islamiah does not exist.
He can be held for up to six months before formal charges are laid and a trial convened. Police transferred him to prosecutors' custody last week, meaning the laying of formal charges is near.