Ba'asyir ready for trial: Lawyer

Ba'asyir ready for trial: Lawyer

JAKARTA: Detained Indonesian terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is ready to stand trial but refuses to be questioned by police, one of his lawyers said Friday.

Ba'asyir insists he has no connection to terrorism but if police have enough evidence of his wrongdoing he would be prepared to go to court immediately, said Ahmad Michdan.

"What do they have to wait for? Just submit the files to the prosecutors' office," Michdan told AFP.

Ba'asyir has been admitted to a police hospital in Jakarta for lung and digestion problems after being forcibly taken from another hospital in the central Java city of Solo on Monday.

He was detained on October 20 after being named a suspect in a series of bomb attacks on Indonesian churches in 2000. He is also accused of plotting to kill Megawati Sukarnoputri before she became president.

Ba'asyir, however, is not a suspect in the Bali blast.

Michdan said Ba'asyir was willing to be questioned if his detention status were revoked and he were confronted with Omar al-Faruq, an alleged al-Qaeda operative who has implicated Ba'asyir in the 2000 church attacks and other terror plots. -- AFP