Abu Bakar Ba'asyir may go on trial soon<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is still scrutinizing the
\ncase files of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and hopes to begin another round
\nof court hearings in less than a week, a spokesman said here on
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
"We are now analyzing Ba'asyir's dossier very carefully. It is
\npossible that we can bring the case to court within a week if we
\nsee that the evidence is sufficient. We don't want to keep it in
\nour office too long," Kemas Yahya Rahman told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Based on the law, the AGO has 14 days to decide whether to
\nreturn a dossier to police for further investigation or forward
\nit to court.<\/p>\n
The National Police submitted Ba'asyir's files with the
\nJakarta Prosecutor's Office early last week, claiming they found
\nnew evidence that the cleric was behind a series of bombings that
\nrocked the country since 1999.<\/p>\n
With the new evidence, the police declared Ba'asyir a
\nterrorist suspect on April 16 and charged him with Articles 14,
\n15, 17 and 18 of Law No. 15\/2003 on terrorism for allegedly
\nplanning, coercing, abetting and perpetrating terrorist attacks.
\nIf found guilty, he could be sentenced to death.<\/p>\n
National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung
\nSudjono said that as the spiritual leader of the secretive group
\nJamaah Islamiyah (JI), Ba'asyir was responsible for planning
\nterror attacks in the country between 1999 and 2002.<\/p>\n
The JI is a UN-listed terrorist organization blamed for the
\nOct. 12, 2002 Bali bombings and the Aug. 5, 2003 JW Marriott
\nHotel attack in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Kemas confirmed that solid new evidence would be required to
\ncharge Ba'asyir for having a role in terrorism cases. Last year,
\nprosecutors failed to prove that the elderly cleric had a role in
\nterrorist activities, but the court jailed him for immigration
\noffenses.<\/p>\n
"We can't give you details right now because our prosecutors
\nare working on it. But there must be something new in the
\ndossier," said Kemas.<\/p>\n
An expert on terrorism from the Indonesian Institute of
\nSciences (LIPI), Riza Sihbudi, however, doubted that the new
\nevidence against Ba'asyir would hold up unless other terror
\nsuspects, particularly Hambali, who is currently being held by
\nthe United States, was able to testify here.<\/p>\n
"I think it is essential to bring other (suspected) terrorists
\ncurrently in U.S custody to be questioned here in Indonesia.
\nOtherwise, the trial will be a repeat of the one in 2003 when the
\nprosecutors failed to link Ba'asyir to terrorism," said Riza.<\/p>\n
He said that there was a similarity to the case in Germany, in
\nwhich a terrorist suspect walked free because the U.S. government
\nrefused to submit evidence linking him to terrorism.<\/p>\n
Based on that, the U.S. should help Indonesia provide evidence
\nlinking Ba'asyir to terrorism in Indonesia, he added.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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