Ba'asyir tells court that President Bush set him up

Ba'asyir tells court that President Bush set him up

Agencies, Jakarta

Alleged terror chief Abu Bakar Ba'asyir told a court here on
Thursday that he was being framed by U.S. President George W.
Bush because of supporting Islam and that he had nothing to do
with a string of deadly bombings in Indonesia.

Ba'asyir is charged with inspiring his followers to carry out
the Bali and J.W. Marriott hotel bombings.

Prosecutors have asked a court to sentence him to eight years
in jail -- far short of the maximum death penalty allowed under
the law.

"My arrest, detention and trial was ordered by George Bush and
his henchmen because of my struggle to uphold Islamic law in
Indonesia," he was quoted by AP as saying.

"The charges against me are not true. I never ordered other
people to carry out the Bali bombings nor the J.W. Marriott
bombing."

Since the trial started in November, Ba'asyir has professed
his innocence. But the United States and Australia have publicly
accused him of being a key terror leader who helped orchestrate
the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali nightclub blasts and the August 2003
Marriott attack which killed a total of 214 people.

"I am not a leader of Jamaah Islamiyah," said Ba'asyir, as his
supporters chanted "Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest)".

"I only taught Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia. I never
received any messages from Osama bin Laden as one witness
testified in court," he said.

The 66-year old cleric denied that he was present at a Jamaah
Islamiyah ceremony at a rebel camp in the southern Philippines in
2000, or that he had relayed Osama bin Laden's calls to fight the
United States.

He accused the US of a "cunning" campaign to impose its values
on Muslims worldwide.

"They are not only doing it in Indonesia but also in
Afghanistan by destroying the Taliban regime which established
Islamic Sharia. They are doing it in Iraq by killing Muslim men,
women and children," he said as quoted by AFP.

Ba'asyir fled to Malaysia in the 1980s to escape persecution
against Muslim activists by then-dictator Soeharto. He returned
to Indonesia in 1999 following Soeharto's downfall the previous
year.

"Since returning from Malaysia my activities were simply
preaching and teaching, making a living honestly," he said.

Lawyers for Ba'asyir later called on the court to drop the
charges against their client and release him. Judges are expected
to announce their verdict in two weeks.

Since the trial, prosecutors have struggled to prove Ba'asyir
is a terrorist. Only one witness testified that he was the leader
of Jamaah Islamiyah.

The witness, Nasir Abbas, said he was a former operative with
Jamaah Islamiyah and that Ba'asyir claimed to have met with al-
Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Abbas also alleged
that Ba'asyir headed Jamaah Islamiyah and swore him in as a group
member at a 2000 ceremony in the cleric's hometown of Surakarta,
Central Java.

Other witnesses failed to link the cleric to either the Bali
or Marriott bombings.

Ba'asyir, who was cleared in 2003 of leading Jamaah Islamiyah,
was released from jail in April last year after serving a
sentence for an immigration offense. He was immediately
rearrested by police, who said they had new evidence of terror
links.