AGO appeals against Ba'asyir verdict
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) will appeal to the Jakarta High Court and the Supreme Court over what it says was the lenient sentence imposed on largely exonerated terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.
Office spokesman Antasari Ashar said on Monday that appeals against the verdict for the 65-year-old Muslim cleric would be filed next Monday.
"The appeal to the Supreme Court concerns the exoneration of Ba'asyir from violating Article 266 of the Criminal Code Law on providing false information for official documents," he told reporters before a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission II on legal affairs.
It would also ask the High Court to review the four-year-jail term for treason, which was far below the maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment demanded by prosecutors.
The Central Jakarta District Court cleared Ba'asyir last Tuesday of the primary charges of masterminding a series of terrorist attacks aimed at toppling the legitimate government and of providing false information to government officials.
The court also rejected allegations that Ba'asyir was the leader of regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a shadowy terror group linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network, which had been blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in the United States.
JI has also been blamed for a string of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, including the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people and the Aug. 5 JW Marriott Hotel blast that claimed at least 12 lives.
Ba'asyir's sentence sparked criticism from many, both at home and overseas.
Western leaders, including Australian Prime Minister John Howard, expressed anger that Ba'asyir had been acquitted of the terrorism charges, saying that the verdict highlighted the problems that existed in the Indonesian legal system.
Ba'asyir, who had insisted that he was innocent, appealed the verdict to the Jakarta High Court on Thursday.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar earlier said that the cleric was not yet off the hook, as there was still a possibility that Ba'asyir could be prosecuted on terror charges.
Ba'asyir gets drug conviction for a day
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak The Jakarta Post Jakarta
If it wasn't for the sharp eyes of a clerk at the Jakarta High Court, cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir might have a new record: a drug conviction.
"The 'typing error' was corrected on the same day the High Court received the documents relating to Ba'asyir's appeal," Central Jakarta District Court spokesman Andi Samsan Nganro said.
The lower court sentenced Ba'asyir to four years in jail last Tuesday for his involvement in a plot to overthrow the Indonesian government and for an immigration offense.
Maintaining that he is innocent of the charges, Ba'asyir appealed the verdict last Thursday.
However, a court clerk entered information on court documents that stated Ba'asyir had breached drug laws, instead of immigration laws.
Copies of the documents were submitted Friday to the High Court, Salemba Prison where Ba'asyir is being imprisoned and the prosecutor's office.
One of the two court clerks entrusted to type the document admitted that he had made corrected copies the same day and resubmitted them to the High Court and the prison, but only gave the correct one to the prosecutor's office on Monday.
"We were told to rush ... so, as usual, we just 'copy-paste' another document and only eliminate the convict's identities and replace them ...," said Jumari, trying to explain the blunder.
Andi cut him short. "Alright ... don't go into detail .... We admit it was our fault and that we didn't double-check the document before submitting it."