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| Southeast Asia | |
| Jakarta Court Rules Trial to Proceed Against Bashir | |
| 2003-05-13 | |
| An Indonesian court ruled on Tuesday that treason hearings against the alleged leader of a regional militant Muslim network should proceed, dismissing defense demands the case be thrown out. The Central Jakarta District court rejected a defense motion that it had no authority to try Abu Bakar Bashir. Prosecutors have argued that Bashir committed treason by leading the Jemaah Islamiah network and by involvement in incidents ranging from a plot to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri when she was vice president to bombings of churches in 2000. "We say that the indictment from the prosecutors is acceptable and the trial can proceed," presiding judge Muhammad Saleh told the court. The case is a test of Megawati's willingness to curb Islamic radicalism in the world's most populous Muslim nation. And we'll be watching The court move follows the opening on Monday of the first trial over the Bali bombings. Police have linked Bashir, 64, to the bomb attacks last October that killed 202 people on the resort island, but he has not been named a suspect in that case. Bashir's lawyers had argued that the current charges were unclear and that the court had no right to hear the case because none of the crimes occurred in its jurisdiction.
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| Posted by:Steve |