Ba'asyir says he has been set up by Bush<\/p>\n
Agencies
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Alleged terror chief Abu Bakar Ba'asyir told a court here on
\nThursday that he was being framed by U.S. President George W.
\nBush because of supporting Islam and that he had nothing to do
\nwith a string of deadly bombings in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir is charged with inspiring his followers to carry out
\nthe Bali and J.W. Marriott hotel bombings.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors have asked a court to sentence him to eight years
\nin jail -- far short of the maximum death penalty allowed under
\nthe law.<\/p>\n
\"My arrest, detention and trial was ordered by George Bush and
\nhis henchmen because of my struggle to uphold Islamic law in
\nIndonesia,\" he was quoted by AP as saying.<\/p>\n
\"The charges against me are not true. I never ordered other
\npeople to carry out the Bali bombings nor the J.W. Marriott
\nbombing.\"<\/p>\n
Since the trial started in November, Ba'asyir has professed
\nhis innocence. But the United States and Australia have publicly
\naccused him of being a key terror leader who helped orchestrate
\nthe Oct. 12, 2002 Bali nightclub blasts and the August 2003
\nMarriott attack which killed a total of 214 people.<\/p>\n
\"I am not a leader of Jamaah Islamiyah,\" said Ba'asyir, as his
\nsupporters chanted \"Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest)\".<\/p>\n
\"I only taught Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia. I never
\nreceived any messages from Osama bin Laden as one witness
\ntestified in court,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The 66-year old cleric denied that he was present at a Jamaah
\nIslamiyah ceremony at a rebel camp in the southern Philippines in
\n2000, or that he had relayed Osama bin Laden's calls to fight the
\nUnited States.<\/p>\n
He accused the US of a \"cunning\" campaign to impose its values
\non Muslims worldwide.<\/p>\n
\"They are not only doing it in Indonesia but also in
\nAfghanistan by destroying the Taliban regime which established
\nIslamic Sharia. They are doing it in Iraq by killing Muslim men,
\nwomen and children,\" he said as quoted by AFP.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir fled to Malaysia in the 1980s to escape persecution
\nagainst Muslim activists by then-dictator Soeharto. He returned
\nto Indonesia in 1999 following Soeharto's downfall the previous
\nyear.<\/p>\n
\"Since returning from Malaysia my activities were simply
\npreaching and teaching, making a living honestly,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for Ba'asyir later called on the court to drop the
\ncharges against their client and release him. Judges are expected
\nto announce their verdict in two weeks.<\/p>\n
Since the trial, prosecutors have struggled to prove Ba'asyir
\nis a terrorist. Only one witness testified that he was the leader
\nof Jamaah Islamiyah.<\/p>\n
The witness, Nasir Abbas, said he was a former operative with
\nJamaah Islamiyah and that Ba'asyir claimed to have met with al-
\nQaida chief Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Abbas also alleged
\nthat Ba'asyir headed Jamaah Islamiyah and swore him in as a group
\nmember at a 2000 ceremony in the cleric's hometown of Surakarta,
\nCentral Java.<\/p>\n
Other witnesses failed to link the cleric to either the Bali
\nor Marriott bombings.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir, who was cleared in 2003 of leading Jamaah Islamiyah,
\nwas released from jail in April last year after serving a
\nsentence for an immigration offense. He was immediately
\nrearrested by police, who said they had new evidence of terror
\nlinks.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/baasyir-says-he-has-been-set-up-by-bush-1447899208",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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