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Bashir found guilty in Bali bomb plot
A statement read out by the judges said Bashir had not been directly involved in carrying out the Bali blasts - which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists - but had given his approval for the attack. But the court found the 66-year-old cleric not guilty of involvement in the 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people. "The defendant has been proven legally and convincingly to have committed the crime of evil conspiracy that caused fire that left other people dead," chief judge Soedarto said, reading the Bali verdict. "The defendant knew that the perpetrators of the bombing were people who have been trained in bombmaking in Pakistan and Afghanistan," the statement said. Prosecutors had sought eight years in jail for Bashir on various terrorism and criminal charges related to bomb attacks. Western governments accuse Bashir of being the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda.The United States was quick to express unhappiness. "We respect the independence and judgment of the Indonesian courts, but given the gravity of the charges on which he was convicted, we're disappointed at the length of the sentence," said Max Kwak, a spokesman for U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. "It's of some concern to us that the sentence is as short as it is," Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said. "We're disappointed about that. We'd like to see a longer sentence." The trial was seen as a test case for Indonesia's judicial attempts to grapple terrorism, but analysts and independent lawyers said prosecutors were hampered flimsy evidence and reluctant witnesses. |
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