JAKARTA: Leaders of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) have requested the Central Jakarta district court allow Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to attend its second congress in Surakarta, Central Java, on Aug. 10 through Aug. 12.
The council's leaders said, in a letter read during Bashir's trial here Thursday, that the cleric's presence in the upcoming congress was of great importance as he had to deliver an accountability report as chairman of the council. "Bashir is also expected to address the congress," they said.
| "We'd like you to ship him back to talk to us after you've shot him, too..." |
However, they noted that if the court rejected their request, they would ask the judges to allow Bashir to prerecord his accountability report and speech.
| "We just miss hearing him rant..." |
Presiding judge M Saleh did not respond to the council's request.
| He was out buying a new keyboard... |
Bashir is standing trial on charges of planning to assassinate Megawati Soekarnoputri (when she was vice president) and violating immigration law. |