http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/03/03/1109700587889.html
Bashir gets 30 months' jail for Bali bomb plot March 3, 2005 - 4:17PM Alleged terror leader Abu Bakar Bashir was sentenced today to two and a half years in prison for criminal conspiracy for the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. The five-judge panel said Bashir, who has been in jail since last April, would get credit for time served and could be out before the end of 2006. The verdict was greeted by yells of "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)" by hundreds of his followers inside and outside the tightly guarded court. The judges were immediately whisked out of the room by armed police. They also acquitted the Muslim cleric of five more serious anti-terror charges, including directly ordering the Bali attack, and two lesser charges. The judges cleared Bashir of planning the 2003 suicide bombing of Jakarta's JW Marriott hotel, which killed 12 people, and of inciting his followers to launch deadly attacks. They found that there had been no evidence nor witnesses to prove that Bashir took part in an "evil conspiracy" to bomb the Marriott. Bashir was in jail at the time of that attack. AdvertisementAdvertisement However, they found that he was linked to lead-up to the Bali attack and convicted him under Indonesia's standard criminal code. All the charges that failed were based on harsh new anti-terror laws. Bashir had originally faced a maximum penalty of death, although prosecutors eventually had asked for only eight and half years. Most analysts had predicted that Bashir would either walk free or receive a short prison term - partly due to the weak case put forward by prosecutors. At the start of today's verdict hearing, dozens heavily armed officers escorted Bashir into the courtroom where he smiled and told reporters that US President George W Bush was "evil". About 1,000 policemen secured the building in south Jakarta. About 100 of Bashir's supporters were allowed inside and 400 gathered outside the court. Shortly before the verdict was handed down, Bashir said that if he was found guilty it would be a "tyrannical verdict", but he appealed to his followers not to react with violence. Bashir maintained that Bush as an "enemy of Allah" had pressured Indonesia to jail him to stop him campaigning for Islamic law. Bashir was arrested a week after the October 2002 Bali bombings and was first put on trial the following year. Prosecutors failed to prove that he waged a terror campaign to topple the government and led Jemaah Islamiah, which is committed to setting up a pan-Islamic state across South East Asia. However judges found him guilty of immigration offences and he was jailed. Police rearrested him in April last year as he left prison after serving the immigration sentence, citing new evidence of terrorist links and of his Jemaah Islamiah leadership. Jemaah Islamiah has been blamed for a series of terror attacks in the region, including a suicide bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta last September that killed 11 people. AAP/AP/AFP ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
