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Summary of report from Jakarta
Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakr Bashir, accused of leading an al-Qaeda linked group blamed for bombings across Asia, was jailed for two and a half years at the end of his trial. A five-member panel of judges announced this sentence after he was found guilty of involvement in a "conspiracy" behind the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. "The judges decided that the defendant, Abu Bakr Bashir, has been legally and convincingly proven of engaging in a sinister conspiracy that led to fire and the death of others," Chief Judge Sudarto said.
The judges said Bashir's words to key Bali bomber Amrozi and Hutomo Pamungkas during a meeting in Solo, Central Java, in 2002, indicated a conspiracy. When Amrozi notified him that he and his friends were planning "a program" in Bali, Bashir had told them "I leave it up to you". The verdict was greeted by shouts of "Allahu akbar (God is great)" by his followers inside and outside the courtroom. Police immediately whisked the judges out of the room. More than 800 police officers were deployed round the agriculture ministry complex in south Jakarta where the trial was held.
This is the second time the frail-looking, white-bearded Bashir, 66, accused of leading Jemaah Islamiyah, the southeast Asian arm of al-Qaeda, has faced terrorism charges. Prosecutors had demanded an eight-year prison sentence for Bashir because he failed to prevent Jemaah Islamiyah members from carrying out attacks, but the main charge - that Bashir and his supporters planned the Bali bombings and the bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003 - was dropped for lack of evidence.
Prosecutors stated in their indictment that while Jemaah Islamiyah chief, Bashir visited the movement's training camps in the Philippines in 2000 he relayed a "ruling from Osama bin Laden, which permitted attacks and killings of Americans and their allies". The United States and Australia pressured Indonesia to act against Bashir, and extradite him to the US authorities.
Shortly before Thursday's court session, Bashir said if he was found guilty it would be a "tyrannical verdict", but he appealed to his followers not to react with violence if he was convicted: "If Allah decides to free me, we should not be overly happy, but if Allah decides that I remain in detention and the judges do not free me, we should also not react excessively."
Bashir maintained that US President George Bush, "the enemy of Allah", had pressured Indonesia to jail him to stop him campaigning for Islamic law. He was arrested a week after the October 2002 Bali bombings and was first put on trial in 2003. Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a series of attacks in the region, including a bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta last September that killed 11 people.
