Bashir trial opens in Indonesia

INDONESIA: The terrorism trial of radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir opened amid high security and soaring religious tensions in Indonesia Thursday, after a spate of sectarian violence left three dead.

The 72-year-old preacher's hardline supporters surrounded the south Jakarta court as hundreds of heavily armed police stood by to prevent further outbreaks of mob violence that have shaken Indonesia this week. The world's most populous Muslim-majority country often praised for its pluralism and tolerance is still in shock after the gruesome lynching of three members of a minority Islamic sect by an enraged Muslim mob on Sunday.

Two days later another mob of Muslim extremists launched an anti-Christian rampage through the streets of Temanggung, also on the main island of Java, in some of the worst religious violence the country has seen for years.

The trial was quickly adjourned until Monday after the bespectacled cleric's defence team complained that he had not been given the minimum three-days notice to appear in court.

It was a low-key start to what is the biggest test of Indonesia's anti-terrorism laws since the convictions and executions of three extremists over the Bali bombings. Jakarta, Thursday, AFP