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Indonesian cleric cleared terror charges { September 2 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/02/international/asia/02CND-INDO.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/02/international/asia/02CND-INDO.html
September 2, 2003
In Setback for U.S., Indonesian Cleric Cleared of Terror Charges
By RAYMOND BONNER
JAKARTA, Indonesia. Sept. 2 — A court this evening acquitted a radical Islamic cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, widely considered the spiritual leader of Al Qaeda's Southeast Asian affiliate, of charges that he ordered a series of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, and of plotting to assassinate the Indonesian president.
He was, however, sentenced to four years in prison on lesser charges.
The court said prosecutors had not proven that Mr. Bashir was the head of Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by the Bush administration. The court rejected the testimony of members of the group who identified Mr. Bashir as their leader.
The court did find that Jemaah Islamiyah existed as an organization, and that Mr. Bashir, who turned 65 two weeks ago, was guilty of aiding and abetting treason, based on his support of the group's goal to establish an Islamic state. They also found him guilty of minor immigration violations.
Prosecutors had asked for a 15-year sentence on those charges, but the judges handed down the four-year sentence instead.
The court's main ruling will be a serious setback in efforts by the United States and Australia, as well other regional governments, to get Indonesia to crack down on terrorists. It took considerable outside pressure before Indonesia arrested Mr. Bashir, last October, and put him on trial.
It took the five judges, including one woman, nearly seven hours to read their findings, which included a recitation of evidence. When they had finished, there was considerable confusion among nearly everyone, from Indonesian lawyers to diplomats.
At times, the judges' statements appeared contradictory. At one point they said he was not guilty of treason, and later that he was, but they threw out the terrorism charge, which contained the charges that Mr. Bashir was responsible for a series of bombings of churches in Indonesia in December 2000.
Mr. Bashir said after today's verdict that he would appeal. The prosecution may also appeal.
The American Embassy here declined to comment, saying that would be up to the State Department in Washington.
Today's verdict will reinforce the view of most Indonesians, including senior political leaders, that the United States has exaggerated the terrorism problem here, Indonesian and Western analysts said.
The Indonesian government long denied that Jemaah Islamiyah existed. Attitudes changed after the terrorist attacks in Bali last October that killed more than 200 people. But in recent months, Indonesian leaders have been noticeably reluctant to publicly mention Jemaah Islamiyah.
Indonesian antiterrorism officials have criticized the United States for not offering enough help to prosecute Mr. Bashir. Much of the evidence against him came from Omar al-Faruq, a senior Al Qaeda operative who was picked up here in June 2002 and turned over to the Central Intelligence Agency.
During interrogation, Mr. Faruq said that Mr. Bashir was the mastermind of a plot to blow up American embassies in Southeast Asia, including the one in Singapore, and that he had provided men and matériel from Jemaah Islmaiyah.
The Bush administration would not allow Indonesian authorities to interrogate Mr. Faruq. They were allowed to submit questions, which the Americans then asked.
Mr. Bashir, who has Yemeni ancestors, became active in Islamic politics in Indonesia in the mid-1950's, when he was the leader of a moderate Islamic student organization. A primary objective was the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia, but through peaceful means.
In the early 1970's, Mr. Bashir was co-founder of an Islamic boarding school in central Java called Ngruki, which has been, and remains, a breeding ground for radicals and militant recruits. Nearly all of the men who have been charged in connection with the Bali bombing graduated from Ngurgki.
In the 1980's, the Indonesia dictator Suharto, who had used the Islamists against the Communists, began to crack down on them. Mr. Bashir was sentenced to nine years in prison for treason.
He fled to Malaysia, along with several others, including Riudan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, who was finally arrested by the C.I.A. last month in Thailand. The two were among a very small community that lived quietly in a simple rural village.
It was during this time that Mr. Bashir appears to have made contact with Osama bin Laden, founder of Al Qaeda. Mr. Hambali was the one of the key links. Mr. Bashir and Mr. Hambali spoke at mosques and in homes, raising money and encouraging young men to go off to fight in holy wars — first to fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; later to be trained in Al Qaeda camps.
In early 1990 there was a split within the movement to set up an Islamic state in Southeast Asia. Mr. Bashir founded Jemaah Islamiyah, a military organization, according to Western governments and an authoritative report on Jemaah Islamiyah by Sidney Jones, an expert on the organization; the report was released last week by the International Crisis Group, a private organization based in Brussels.
Mr. Bahsir eventually became the head of the organization, according to witnesses at his trial, as well as the report.
Mr. Bashir returned to Indonesia in 1998, after Suharto was toppled. His base was the Ngurki boarding school. Most Indonesians considered him a radical preacher. With a population of 220 million, Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic country. But it is a secular state, and the overwhelming majority of Muslims are moderate.
Mr. Bashir was part of a conservative fringe, small but with a following that the country's leaders did not feel they could challenge.
The Bali bombing changed attitudes dramatically. Terrorism had come to Indonesia, and it was home-grown. Mr. Bashir was arrested a few weeks later.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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