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Indonesian police say they will not charge a militant Islamic cleric for the 2002 nightclub bombing on the island of Bali. The decision was made just days after Indonesia's Constitutional Court limited the use of the country's anti-terrorism legislation. Indonesian police said Wednesday that Abu Bakar Bashir, the militant cleric alleged to have been the leader of the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, will not be charged in connection with the October 2002 Bali bombing. More than 200 people were killed in that attack. Most of them were young western tourists. The decision comes just days after Indonesia's Constitutional Court ruled...

MAKASSAR, Indonesia, May 1 (Reuters) - Indonesian police fired warning shots into the air and clashed with supporters of Muslim preacher and terror suspect Abu Bakar Bashir in the eastern city of Makassar on Saturday, injuring dozens. A Reuters photographer saw dozens of police beat unarmed students with bamboo sticks while others fired a volley of shots into the air inside an Islamic university compound in the port city, 1,400 km (870 miles) east of Jakarta. Witnesses said the clashes erupted after some of the estimated 500 student protesters dragged a police officer inside the university compound. "The police got...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- An Indonesian appeals court has cleared militant leader Abu Bakar Bashir of treason and reduced his sentence from four years to three, court officials said Monday. The court upheld Bashir's conviction on lesser charges of forging identity documents. Bashir was convicted in September of treason in a plot to overthrow Indonesia's secular government but cleared of charges of being the leader of the al-Qaida linked Southeast Asia terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. The decision was widely criticized by foreign governments who maintain that Bashir is the spiritual head of the group, which has been blamed for...

<p>JAKARTA, Indonesia — The imprisoned Islamic cleric thought to be a guiding force behind the Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah warned that all Muslim countries with close ties to the United States were targets for attack.</p> <p>"As long as Muslim countries have close ties or support the U.S. government or U.S. policy, [they] will be threatened by a Muslim militant attack," said Abu Bakar Bashir, as he sat on the rough floor of the Salemba Prison, the Jakarta prison where he has been held for the past year.</p>

The Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia Sept. 2 — A court on Tuesday acquitted a Muslim cleric accused of heading an al-Qaida-linked Asian terror group and plotting to overthrow the government, giving a surprise verdict in a case seen as a test of Indonesia's willingness to fight terror. The ruling was greeted by joyous cheers from hundreds of supporters of Abu Bakar Bashir, who was alleged to be the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah, a terror network blamed for a string of bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines. "There is not enough evidence to prove that the defendant ... led...

Abu Bakar Bashir, the Indonesian Muslim cleric accused of leading the terrorist group blamed for the Bali bombings, broke down in tears yesterday and warned judges at his treason trial that they would "go to hell" if they convicted him.   Abu Bakar Bashir delivers his defence statement In scenes that stunned onlookers he told prosecutors to repent for assisting "the infidel enemies of Islam".In a defence statement brimming with defiance and devoid of any remorse for victims of bombings across Indonesia, he said his trial was stage-managed by the "terrorist state of America".He accused "hypocrite" states such as the...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A radical Islamic cleric accused of heading an al-Qaida-linked terror network in Asia wept in court Thursday as he accused the Indonesian government of framing him on charges of treason and plotting to assassinate its president. With tears in his eyes, Abu Bakar Bashir denied any wrongdoing and said authorities in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia had tortured witnesses to testify against him. The 64-year-old cleric Thursday was responding to a prosecution request that he be jailed for a maximum 15 years. Bashir is considered the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, which is blamed for a string...

THE elderly Islamic cleric accused of being terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiah's spiritual leader yesterday refused to condemn the Christmas Eve 2000 church bombings which killed 19. Abu Bakar Bashir, on trial in Jakarta for treason and the bombing of churches across Indonesia, told the court that under Islamic law, oppressed Muslims were obliged to fight back. Giving evidence for the first time, he said he would refuse to condemn the bombings until he had been appraised of all the facts. "Who did it and what are the reasons," he said, when asked about his reaction to the church bombings, widely...

Cambodian JI network smashed AFP Cambodia said today it had smashed a “radical” Islamic network and charged three men with membership of Jemaah Islamiyah, the group blamed for the Bali bombing and accused of links to al-Qaeda. Cambodian officials said another 50 people from the Middle East and Africa would be deported in a crackdown on terrorism after investigations revealed a local Islamic school was being used as a terrorist front. Authorities said most of the funding to run such schools here came from Saudi Arabia. Diplomats said the move was backed by the Americans who have grown increasingly concerned...

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the regional terror network widely suspected of staging the October 12, Bali bombings and dozens of other blasts, dreams of creating a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia. It aims to destabilise the region through terror attacks and bring Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines under a fundamentalist umbrella. Elderly Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged leader or "emir", went on trial on Wednesday for treason. He is charged with trying to topple the Jakarta government through terrorism and set up an Islamic state. The same day Indonesian police announced they have arrested 17...

Abu Bakar Bashir accused of trying to set up Islamic state, overthrow Indonesian government but is not tied to Bali blasts JAKARTA - Indonesian prosecutors yesterday formally charged the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network's alleged spiritual leader with treason and three immigration violations - accusations that could mean life imprisonment. The 25-page indictment that prosecutors submitted to the Central District Court in Jakarta listed as part of cleric Abu Bakar Bashir's crimes, efforts to set up an Islamic state, and to overthrow the government in Indonesia. The charges were related to a bombing campaign against churches across the country during...

AFTER almost six months in detention, extremist Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has finally been formally charged with "conspiring to overthrow the Government" in an indictment that describes him as a leader of the terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah. In an indictment filed yesterday in Jakarta's Central District Court, Bashir is accused of involvement in bomb attacks and attempted bombings in the region. The indictment alleges Bashir conspired with Abdullah Sungkar, Hambali, Zulkarnaen, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas to commit treason – in particular, the bombing of Indonesian churches on Christmas Eve 2000, which killed 19 people. Hambali is Asia's most wanted...

A key suspect in the Bali bombings has said he was sworn in as a member of the Jemaah Islamiah regional terror network in the presence of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, according to a report today. Ali Imron, 33, also told the Tempo weekly magazine in an interview that orders for some of the Christmas Eve bombings in 2000 came from a key JI operative called Hambali. Indonesian police and regional leaders say Bashir, who is detained on separate terrorism charges, is the spiritual leader of JI. They say they expect to charge him for the Bali bombings which...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesian police said Monday they arrested the alleged head of a terrorist cell in Singapore who is suspected of plotting to hijack a plane and crash it into the Singapore airport. Mas Selamat Kastari is believed to be the head of the Singapore branch of the regional Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, which is accused of carrying out last year's bombings on the tourist island of Bali.He was arrested on Indonesia's Bintan island, a short ferry ride south of Singapore, on Sunday night, chief of national police detectives Lt. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng said."Kastari is the head...

Indonesian police said yesterday they have included testimony from witnesses in Singapore and Malaysia as evidence to be used in the trial of alleged terror group leader Abu Bakar Bashir. "We have done that and it is in the evidence files that have been submitted," national police chief General Da'i Bachtiar told reporters. Police have submitted the files to prosecutors and say they want Mr Bashir to face charges of treason and of staging a series of bomb attacks in Indonesia. Malaysia and Singapore says Mr Bashir is the spiritual leader of regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). JI is...

Bashir's warning to Australians December 13 2002 By Stephen Gibbs, Matthew Moore Jakarta The man who Western governments say is the spiritual leader of the terrorist group accused of masterminding the Bali bombing says Australia will be "destroyed instantly" if it launches a pre-emptive strike against terrorist targets in other countries. Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric accused of heading recently banned South-East Asian group Jemaah Islamiah, said Australians would be dragged into a war with Muslims if they went along with the "crazy idea" of a pre-emptive strike floated recently by Prime Minister John Howard. "So, if John Howard's stance...

Australian accused of plot to bomb embassies An Australian man charged after a series of counter-terrorism raids this month allegedly planned to bomb Israeli diplomatic buildings in Canberra and Sydney. The 49-year-old man, named as Jack Roche, was arrested in Perth late last night over an alleged plan to bomb diplomatic posts in Australia. The Australian Federal Police said he faced a charge of conspiracy to bomb diplomatic premises in Australia when he appears in the Perth Court of Petty Sessions this morning. AFP general manager national operations Ben McDevitt said his arrest was not connected to the Bali bombings....

BALI: Indonesian police said on Monday that their chief suspect in the Bali bomb blasts, a man who has confessed to involvement in the attack, was a student of detained Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Major-General Made Mangku Pastika, head of the multinational police investigation into the Bali attacks, told a news conference on the resort island that Bashir was also a co-founder of the Jemaah Islamiah militant Muslim network in Malaysia. It was the first time that Indonesia had tied the 64-year-old cleric to Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian militant group that has been linked to Osama Bin Laden's...

KUALA LUMPUR, November 10 (IslamOnline) - The Muslim leader accused of terror links with the al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) Abu Bakar Bashir risks deportation to Malaysia, Singapore or the U.S. if he is stripped of his Indonesian nationality, sources said Sunday, November 10. Singapore and Malaysia have in the past urged Indonesia to arrest Bashir for his alleged role in terror activities on their soil. Basyir is accused by Singapore of being the spiritual leader of the JI while Malaysia has him high on the terror list allegedly for connections with the Malaysian Mujahidin Movement (KMM). The U.S....

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 10/31/02 - Sulaymanyah, Barda Qaraman, Baghdad, Solo BREAKING: PROTALIBAN TERRORIST RELEASED BREAKING: ISLAMIC TERRORIST TAKEN BREAKING: BALI PERP SKETCHES RELEASED THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY Sulaymanyah, Barda Qaraman, Baghdad, Islamabad, Pakistan, Azam Tariq of the pro-Taliban Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan party released Solo, Java, Abu Bakar Bashir taken to Jakarta ========= Sulaymanyah, free Iraq ========= THE GOOD In Sulaymanyah, free Iraq, controlled by the PUK, women fight for their freedom. ========= Barda Qaraman ========= In Barda Qaraman, ~22 miles south of Sulaymanyah, free Iraq, controlled by the PUK are refugees who...