http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4312199.stm
Last Updated: Thursday, 3 March, 2005, 11:24 GMT
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Cleric jailed over Bali bombings
Ba'asyir said the sentence against him was unjust
An Indonesian court has found the radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir
guilty of conspiracy over the 2002 Bali bombings, in which 202 people died.
But he was cleared of more serious charges over a bomb attack on the JW
Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003.
Ba'asyir, who was jailed for two-and-a-half years, had denied the charges
and is expected to appeal.
Australia, which lost 88 people in the Bali attacks, said the relatively
lenient sentence was "disappointing".
"We are disappointed with the length of the sentence," Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer told the BBC.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Jakarta also expressed disappointment
at the sentence "given the gravity of the charges on which he was convicted".
At the end of the court case, a statement read out by the five judges
said Ba'asyir had not been directly involved in carrying out the Bali blasts,
but had given his approval for the attacks.
Ba'asyir addressed the court after his sentence was delivered, saying: "I
don't accept this verdict. This is not justice. God protect us from evil and
its allies. Please, either open their hearts or destroy them."
He reportedly smiled broadly as he was led out of court, while his
supporters climbed onto chairs with chants of "God is greatest".
The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Jakarta says it was always going to be a
difficult and complex case for the prosecution to prove.
Their case was undermined when witnesses gave contradictory testimony,
and a former US State Department interpreter gave evidence that appeared to
back up the defence's claims that the trial was a result of US pressure.
Cheers
The cleric's supporters say he is being persecuted to please the US
Our correspondent says the atmosphere in the court swung from one extreme
to another as the verdict was read out.
The announcement that Ba'asyir would not be convicted of the Marriott
hotel attack - which killed 12 people, including a suicide bomber - was greeted
with cheers by his supporters.
But they protested as he was found guilty of the Bali bombings.
The cleric was convicted over the Bali bombings under ordinary criminal
legislation, rather than the harsher anti-terror laws, which were only brought
in after the 2002 attacks.
A statement by the court said Ba'asyir was aware of the conspiracy behind
the Bali bombings.
"The defendant knew that the perpetrators of the bombing were people who
have been trained in bomb-making in Pakistan and Afghanistan... the conditions
of evil conspiracy have been met," the statement said.
'Al-Qaeda ties'
Prosecutors who accused Ba'asyir of inspiring both the Bali and Marriott
attacks had pushed for a jail sentence of eight years.
He has previously been tried on charges of leading the regional militant
group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) - but was cleared because of a lack of evidence.
He was, however, jailed for immigration violations.
Police rearrested him in April 2004, as soon as he left prison, citing
new evidence linking him to JI.
The US has alleged JI has ties to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
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