Prosecution seeks 15 years in jail for Ba'asyir

Prosecution seeks 15 years in jail for Ba'asyir

A'an Suryana and Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Surakarta

Prosecutors demanded on Tuesday 15 years in jail for terror
suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who has been charged with treason and
immigration violations, and accused of leading Jamaah Islamiyah
(JI), which has been blamed for deadly bombings in both Bali and
Jakarta.

He was not directly charged with involvement in terrorism, but
many believe he was behind a series of bloody church blasts on
Christmas Eve 2000 that killing 19 people.

Ba'syir is also charged with plotting to assassinate President
Megawati Soekarnoputri when she was still vice president in 1999.

A treason charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

During the three-hour session on Tuesday, prosecutor Hasan
Madani said that Ba'asyir, chairman of the extremist Indonesian
Mujahidin Council (MMI), had been proven beyond all reasonable
doubt to have committed the crimes alleged by the prosecution.

"The defendant has violated Articles 107, 266 and 263 of the
Criminal Code (on treason), and Law No. 9/1992 on immigration,"
Madani told the court, which was packed with dozens of Ba'asyir's
followers and journalists.

Madani said Ba'asyir was guilty of falsifying documents
stating he was a resident of the Central Java town of Ngruki,
where his MMI was based.

The defendant was also guilty of making a false affidavit
about his whereabouts from 1985 to 1999, the prosecutor added.

Lastly, he was guilty of violating Immigration Law No. 9/1999
by failing to carry out his obligations as a foreign citizen in
Indonesia.

Ba'asyir went to Malaysia in 1985 after serving three years in
jail for subversion. His Indonesian citizenship was annulled
after he failed to notify the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia of
his presence there -- a mandatory requirement if an Indonesian
citizen wishes to retain his or her citizenship. He came home to
Indonesia in 1998 after the fall of president Soeharto.

The trial, held at the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency
building in Central Jakarta, was heavily guarded by police
personnel. It ended peacefully.

Ba'syir smiled when the prosecutor's demand was read out,
saying his trial was the result of American pressure.

When arriving for Tuesday's hearing, he told journalists that
the terror attacks that had occurred in Indonesia were the work
of the CIA.

Ba'asyir's lawyer Mahendradatta blasted the sentence request
as "baseless and sensational".

Presiding judge Muhammad Saleh adjourned the trial until
Thursday to hear closing defense pleas from Ba'asyir's lawyers.

In the Central Java city of Surakarta, hard-line MMI leaders
slammed the request for a 15-year jail term for the elderly
Muslim cleric.

Closing its three-day congress on Tuesday, the MMI also
retained Ba'asyir as its top leader for another five years, and
Irfan S. Awwas as the organization's executive chairman.

"The congress has decided to appoint Ustadz (teacher) Abu
Bakar Ba'syir as the leader of the MMI for the 2003-2008 period,"
said a statement issued after the congress.

It urged the government to acquit the detained leader of all
charges.

The 64-year-old cleric was detained last October amid intense
domestic and international pressure after the Bali blasts on Oct.
12, 2002. He has denied any links to terrorism and even tried to
claim JI does not exist.

He also heads the Al Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Ngruki,
Surakarta, which has produced a number of terror suspects.