Verdict not end of story for Ba'asyir

Verdict not end of story for Ba'asyir

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who has been sentenced to four
years in jail for treason, could yet face terrorism charges,
provided that police obtain new evidence after they question
Hambali, who is now in U.S. custody following his recent capture
in Thailand.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar revealed on Thursday
that there was still a possibility that Ba'asyir could be
prosecuted on terror charges if the police found from their
questioning of Hambali that the 65-year-old cleric was in fact
the leader of the Jamaah Islamiyah terror group and had been
involved in terrorist outrages.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has called up U.S. President
George W. Bush to give Indonesian police access to Hambali, who
has been sequestered by the U.S following his capture in Thailand
last month.

"If we can interrogate Hambali, then we may be able to further
investigate Ba'asyir's involvement in terrorism," said the four-
star general after attending a Cabinet meeting here on Thursday.

In a landmark trial on Tuesday, Ba'asyir was cleared of
primary charges of involvement in terrorism and of leading JI, a
shadowy terror group linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
terrorist network, which has been blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks
that killed more than 3,000 people in New York and Washington. JI
has been linked to a series 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.

The court gave Ba'asyir only four years in jail, eleven years
less than the prosecution had sought -- a sentence that has
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.

Despite the lenient sentence, a member of Ba'asyir's legal
team, Wirawan Adnan, officially sought leave to appeal from the
Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday.

Meanwhile, responding to the criticism of the court's verdict,
the chairman of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul
Ulama, Hasyim Muzadi, called on all sides to respect the
judgment.

He said he could understand why Western countries were
disappointed with the lenient sentence given to Ba'asyir as they
had long been suspicious about the Muslim cleric's activities.

Separately, Syafii Ma'arif, the chairman of Muhammadiyah, the
second largest Muslim group in Indonesia, regretted the verdict,
saying that there were no strong legal reasons for the judges to
have convicted the defendant.

He said the judges should accept the reality that the
prosecutors' indictments were weak and, therefore, the High Court
should accept the appeal.

Those who consider the sentence too lenient point to the fact
that in respect of the treason charges laid against Ba'asyir, the
Criminal Code provides for a maximum sentence of 15 years in
jail, while for the offenses with which Ba'asyir was also
charged, the maximum punishment is five years' imprisonment.

Despite increasing fears of terrorism around the world, Vice
President Hamzah Haz warned Western countries, including the
U.S., of political reasons being behind the terrorism waged by
certain groups, saying that Indonesia was not anti-American but
that Washington should try to build a just world and treat all
nations equally.

He argued that all nations, including those that had Muslim
majorities, opposed the use of terrorism, but that Western
countries should also take care not to arbitrarily sideline
Muslim nations.

The Vice President said Indonesia would continue to strengthen
bilateral ties with Western countries, especially the U.S., in
all fields.

"If we are anti-American, it means that we are not performing
our duty as Muslims to show mercy in the world," he said during a
meeting at his office.