INDONESIA: An Indonesian court jailed Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for four years on treason charges yesterday, but said the prosecution had failed to prove he led the Jemaah Islamiah network blamed for bombings in south-east Asia.
The sentence was far less than the 15 years demanded by the prosecution in a case which has been widely seen as a test of the willingness of the world's most populous Muslim nation to crack down on radical Islam.
Risk and political analysts described the sentence as light and one predicted it would make the US think twice before handing over suspected Jemaah Islamiah operational commander Hambali for trial in Indonesia.
But Bashir, a 65-year-old preacher and educator who has repeatedly rejected all charges against him, said he would appeal and urged his supporters to remain calm. "I cannot accept this, therefore I will appeal," he said soon after sentencing, his voice rising. "I ask you to remain orderly, and be careful of provocateurs from America." His supporters shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest).
The panel of five judges convicted Bashir of participating in acts of treason, but they rejected a central part of the prosecution case when they ruled he had not necessarily led a plot to topple Indonesia's secular government.
"Although the treason acts were proven, there has not been enough evidence to prove Abu Bakar Bashir was the leader of treason acts of trying to oust the lawful government," said presiding judge Muhammad Saleh.
"The panel has an opinion that Abu Bakar Bashir has not been proven as the leader of Jemaah Islamiah," Saleh said earlier.
Officials link Jemaah Islamiah (JI) with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, the group blamed by Washington for the September 11th, 2001 suicide hijacking attacks on the US.
Investigators have also linked the group to last October's Bali bomb blast, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, and a car bomb attack on a Jakarta hotel that killed 12 people on August 5th.
Ken Conboy, head of RMA Indonesia, a Jakarta-based security risk company, described the verdict as a "bit underwhelming". "I think a lot of people, they were looking at this as a litmus test to see how serious the government was. Four years, considering he'll probably get \ off for good behaviour, is more or less a glorified slap on the wrist," he said.
Zachary Abuza, a counter-terrorism specialist at Simmons College in the US and an expert on Jemaah Islamiah, predicted Washington would not be pleased.
"The Americans are going to be very angry," he said. "I think it really might make the Americans pause when they think about turning over someone like Hambali to them. "While Indonesian authorities have been vigorous in their pursuit of Bali bombing suspects - one of whom has already been sentenced to death - none has the public profile of Bashir.
Bashir was charged with treason linked to church bombings that killed 19 people three years ago and an aborted plot to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri when she was vice president.
"Based on the facts, we can conclude every JI action needs the blessing of the defendant as its emir (chief)," prosecutors said when they asked for the 15-year sentence.
At no stage, however, was Bashir, who repeatedly denounced the trial as a set-up and denied all knowledge of Jemaah Islamiah, directly implicated in the Bali bombing or the Jakarta hotel blast.
Defence lawyer Mahendradatta told reporters earlier the defence would appeal if the verdict went against them. "Nothing has incriminated him. Too many things have been made up," he said.
Supporters of Bashir, who has campaigned openly for the establishment of Islamic law in Indonesia, crammed into the courtroom and milled around outside at the start of the day. One person in the crowd wore a bin Laden T-shirt. "My message is stay calm, let us show our Muslim behaviour," Bashir told supporters. - (Reuters)