Australia God's enemy: Bashir Sian Powell, Jakarta correspondent 29oct04
ACCUSED terrorist Abu Bakar Bashir has told an Indonesian court to be wary of interference from the "two enemies of God", Australia and the US. On the first day of the extremist cleric's long-awaited second trial for terrorist crimes, Bashir briefed journalists, prosecutors and judges on the potential for Western meddling. Bashir had earlier denied he had any connection with the blast outside the Australian embassy on September 9 and said the world's real criminals were George Bush "and his slave John Howard". The cleric is facing charges related to the Bali bombings and the Marriott hotel blast in Jakarta last August. In court, Bashir claimed there had been three incidents of Western judicial intervention already in Indonesia. He cited his own detention and claimed that a US consul in the western city of Medan complained that someone accused of terrorism had been acquitted. And he said US and Australian diplomats complained to prosecutors when another man widely accused of terrorism, Abu Jibril, was acquitted. However, chief prosecutor Salman Maryadi then told the court that in fact, Abu Jibril had been convicted. Sounding hoarse and looking tired, Bashir said he was confused by the prosecutors' 65-page indictment, which had been read aloud to the court for nearly three hours. "Please give me an outline of what I'm charged with," he said. Prosecutor Maryadi obliged by telling the preacher that he was charged with having a role in the bombing at the Marriott hotel, and in connection with the Bali bombings. As the prosecutor explained the charges, Bashir smiled slightly. "For the Marriott bombing," Mr Maryadi said. "Ustadz (honoured cleric Abu Bakar Bashir) together with others, such as Faisal Abu Bakar Bafana, mobilised or planned terrorist crimes, and as the leader, created the guidelines for the struggle, PUPJI, in the organisation Jemaah Islamiah." Mr Maryadi said Bashir, with others, had established JI's Hudaibiyah training camp in the southern Philippines, where militants were taught how to bomb, and certain of the militants then went on to put their knowledge into action. The prosecutor also explained that Bashir was charged with "evil conspiracy" by telling followers in the Hudaibiyah camp to attack. Bashir was also charged with failing to inform the authorities of the planned attack on the Marriott hotel. Mr Maryadi then outlined the charges concerning the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. "Using charisma, Ustadz Abu Bakar Bashir convinced his followers to carry out attacks, and it's true, they did the bombings," the prosector said. The makeshift court, in the auditorium of the Agriculture Department in south Jakarta, was packed with more than 600 journalists and militant followers. privacy terms © The Australian ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> 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/
