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Indonesian cleric's terrorism trial adjourned

Other News Materials 10 February 2011 09:09 (UTC +04:00)

An Indonesian court on Thursday adjourned until next week the terrorism trial of cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, dpa reported.

   Ba'asyir is charged with seven counts of terrorism in connection with a militant training camp in Aceh province that police said was created as part of a plot to attack government and foreign targets.

   Judges at the South Jakarta District Court opened the trial briefly but adjourned it until Monday on a technicality.

   The bearded, 72-year-old cleric, who could face the death penalty if found guilty, has denied any wrongdoing.

   Security was heavy around the court in anticipation of a protest by Ba'asyir's supporters.

   Ba'asyir was arrested in August after a series of police raids on alleged members of a new militant group that was setting up base in Aceh on Sumatra island.

   Police said Ba'asyir was the main organizer of the group, named by police as Tandzim al Qaida Indonesia, and helped raise funds for its activities.

   Police said the organization was a merger of several militant groups, including Jemaah Islamiyah, the Islamic State of Indonesia and Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid, an Islamic outfit founded by Ba'asyir in 2008.

   His trial was adjourned after the defence argued that Ba'asyir's arraignment letter was delivered two days ago when the law states that it should be delivered three days before the date of the trial. The judges agreed.

   Ba'asyir, known for his firebrand anti-Western speeches, has had several brushes with the law.

   In 2006, he was released from prison after completing a 26-month sentence after being convicted for having a role in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign visitors.

   The Supreme Court later overturned the lower court's conviction, ruling that he did not play any role in the bombings.

   Ba'asyir has consistently denied involvement in terrorism and said he is being persecuted because he campaigns for strict Islamic law in Indonesia, the world's most-populous Muslim nation.

   In a second case brought against him since the Bali bombings, a court ruled there was not enough evidence to prove Ba'asyir was involved in the bombings, but it sentenced him to 18 months for immigration offences.

   Ba'asyir fled to Malaysia in the mid-1980s to escape persecution by then-dictator Suharto. He returned to Indonesia in 1999 after Suharto's downfall a year earlier.

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