Radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Baasyir's lawyers have lodged an appeal against his 30-month conviction for involvement in the conspiracy behind the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. Attorney Mahendradatta on Wednesday (6/4/05) filed the 30-page appeal, which contains a letter from key witness Amrozi, who has been sentenced to death for his role in the attacks that killed 202 people. The defense team has argued that South Jakarta District Court's March 3 verdict, which found Baasyir guilty of involvement in an "evil conspiracy" that led to the bombings, was based on a single police report alleging the cleric gave Amrozi his blessing to carry out the attacks.Mahendradatta said Amrozi's letter, dated March 24, states that he never discussed the bombings with Baasyir. It also contains a denial of the prosecution's claim that Amrozi refused to testify at the cleric's trial. "The meeting between the defendant and Amrozi in [the Central Java city of] Solo has no relation to the Bali bombing," fellow lawyer Achmad Michdan was quoted as saying by Reuters. "I'm willing to testify anytime... I have never talked to Baasyir about the bombing," he said, reading out excerpts of Amrozi's letter. Jakarta High Court is expected to issue a ruling on the appeal next month.
Baasyir's verdict was criticized by the US, Australian and New Zealand governments as "too lenient". But observers said the prosecution was lucky to get a conviction, given the lack of hard evidence, various legal constraints and flimsy witness testimonies. South Jakarta District Court cleared Baasyir of charges that as head of regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah he had incited his followers to launch terrorist attacks and had planned the August 2003 suicide bombing at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel that killed 12 people. He was also cleared of accusations that he visited a Jemaah Islamiyah military training camp in the southern Philippines in April 2000 and had passed on an edict from Osama bin Laden calling for killings of Americans and their allies.
Baasyir has always denied any wrongdoing and claimed his trial was held at the behest of the US and its allies because they opposed his campaign for Islamic law in secular Indonesia. The cleric was arrested shortly after the Bali bombings. He was tried at Central Jakarta District Court in 2003, accused of treason, leading Jemaah Islamiyah, authorizing bombings, violating immigration regulations and falsifying identity documents. He was cleared of the terror-related charges and served 18 months in jail for immigration violations and forging documents. He was immediately re-arrested upon his release in April 2004 and accused of the Marriott and Bali bombings. Having already spent 10 months behind bars pending his last trial, he could be released by October 2006, or even earlier if his appeal succeeds.