Indonesian Cleric Found Guilty of Treason

An Indonesian court today sentenced Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'aysir to four years in jail for treason, but cleared him of leading Jemaah Islamiah, the radical group blamed for bombings in south-east Asia.

A panel of five judges ruled that Ba'aysir had participated but not necessarily led a plot to topple the government.

"Although the treason acts were proven, there has not been enough evidence to prove Abu Bakar Ba'aysir was the leader of treason acts of trying to oust the lawful government," said presiding judge Muhammad Saleh.

"The panel has an opinion that Abu Bakar Ba'aysir has not been proven as the leader of Jemaah Islamiah ... The defendant ... had knowledge of an organisation that is trying to topple the government. That is why the secondary charge has been proven.

Ba'aysir was also found guilty on the lesser charge of entering Indonesia illegally in 1999.

Judge Saleh said: "In order that the defendant does not repeat his mistake ... he must be punished. We, the judges, hand down a sentence of four years in prison." The prosecution had pressed for a 15-year jail sentence.

Indonesian officials link Jemaah Islamiah with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida, the group blamed by Washington for the September 11 2001 suicide hijacking attacks on the United States.

Investigators have also linked the group to last October's Bali bomb blast, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, and a car bomb attack on a Jakarta hotel that killed 12 people on August 5.

Ba'aysir, who taught at a religious boarding school in central Java, was arrested in the immediate aftermath of the Bali bombings. He was not charged with involvement in that attack or the bombing of Jakarta's JW Marriott hotel.

But prosecutors said that under his leadership, Jemaah Islamiyah plotted to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri and establish a hardline Islamic regime.

Defence attorneys earlier challenged prosecutors' use of testimony from suspects held without trial in Singapore and Malaysia under draconian internal security laws.

The attorneys claim key testimony was obtained under torture, and that the witnesses - who addressed the judges via video-link - should instead have been brought to Indonesia to speak freely in open court.

"There was not a single proof that Ba'aysir intended to topple the government," Adnan Nasution, Ba'aysir's defence lawyer, said after the verdict.

The 65-year-old preacher and educator, who rejected all charges against him and earlier denounced the prosecutors as lackeys of the enemies of Islam, said he would appeal and urged his supporters to remain calm.

"I ask you to remain orderly, and be careful of provocateurs from America," Ba'aysir said soon after sentencing. His supporters shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

The trial was seen as a key test of Indonesia's resolve to crack down on Islamic militancy. Last month, a special court in Bali sentenced to death a Muslim radical for his role in last year's terror attacks on two nightclubs in Bali in which 202 people died.