Ba'asyir 'unaware' of Marriot attack

Ba'asyir 'unaware' of Marriot attack

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Five witnesses testifying in the Abu Bakar Ba'asyir trial said
on Thursday that they had met with the cleric either in Malaysia,
Afghanistan or Philippines, but ruled out his having a hand in
the J.W. Marriot Hotel bombing in August 2003.

The witnesses were Yudi Lukito Kurniawan alias Ismail alias
Abdurrahman, Ir. Bambang Tetuko, Muh Rais, Ismail alias Muh
Ikhwan alias Agus, and Masrizal bin Ali Umar alias Tohir.

Ismail, who is serving a 12-year-jail term for the Marriott
hotel bombing, told the court that only five people, including he
himself, had knowledge about the plan to bomb the hotel.

Aside from Ismail, the four others were fugitive Malaysians
Noordin Mohd. Top and Azahari Husin, suicide bomber Asmar Latin
Sani and a man called Masrizal bin Ali Umar alias Tohir

The white-haired cleric is accused of inciting his followers to
carry out the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people
and of plotting the Marriott attack that claimed 12 lives. He
could be sentenced to death if found guilty.

Tohir, who was also called at the trial, said that Noordin was the
real mastermind of the Marriott attack, and that Ba'aysir had
never given the order nor provided funding.

Their testimony concurred with the statements by two Malaysian
militants, Syamsul Bahri and Amran bin Mansur, who were called as
witnesses during Ba'asyir's earlier trial.

Although they all confessed to being JI members and said that
Ba'aysir was the spiritual leader of the regional terrorist
group, none of them said they had ever witnessed Ba'aysir acting
as the leader of the terrorist group.

However, a team of prosecutors led by Salman Maryadi was sure
that Ba'aysir was the mastermind behind the Marriott bombing.

"Someone can plan an evil act without directly being involved
in the act according to Article 55 of the Antiterrorism Law,"
Salman said.

AFP reported that prosecutors said that Ba'aysir had visited a
military training camp in April 2002 in Afghanistan and relayed a
fatwa by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that permitted the
killings of American and their allies.

Witness Mohamad Rais said he gave a message to Ba'asyir from
Osama bin Laden in 2001 saying that the cleric was invited to
Afghanistan if he no longer felt comfortable living in Indonesia.

Rais said he conveyed the message when he returned to
Indonesia and Ba'aysir replied "God willing". However, the cleric
denied he ever received such a message.

The trial, in which 77 witnesses are scheduled to be called,
was adjourned until next Thursday.