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| Southeast Asia | |
| ’New JI leader’ on trial in Jakarta | |
| 2003-10-29 | |
| EFL: A man suspected of taking over the spiritual leadership of a key South East Asian terrorist network has gone on trial in Indonesia. Abu Rusdan is not charged over his alleged links with Jemaah Islamiah, blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings. Instead he is accused of helping two suspects wanted in connection with the attacks. Easier to prove, you can always file more charges later. Abu Rusdan told reporters outside the Jakarta courtroom that he was feeling fine and was confident that his defence team would prove the charges against him were the result of what he called "foreign intervention". He denied playing a part in the Bali bombings and also denied that Jemaah Islamiah (JI) existed. "Jemaah Islamiah does not exist as a formal organisation nor does it exist as an underground organisation," he said. "Lies, all lies!"
It’s a start The indictment also alleged that Abu Rusdan took over the spiritual leadership of the radical Islamic extremist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) after the arrest of the Islamic cleric Abu Bakr Bashir. Got called up from their farm team to the majors. Abu Bakar Bashir was found guilty of sedition in early September, but the judges ruled there was not enough evidence to show that he was ever a leader of JI. The BBC’s Jakarta correspondent, Rachel Harvey, says it is an extremely difficult point to prove, which is perhaps why prosecutors in the case of Abu Rusdan are concentrating on the lesser charge of "No hurry, we get paid by the hour." | |
| Posted by:Steve |