'Bush is framing me'

2005-02-17 09:12

Jakarta - Alleged terror chief Abu Bakar Bashir told a court on Thursday that he was being framed by United States President George W Bush for supporting Islam and that he had nothing to do with a string of deadly bombings in Indonesia.

Bashir, the alleged leader of the al-Qaeda-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, is charged with inspiring his followers to carry out the Bali and JW Marriott hotel bombings.

Prosecutors have asked a court to sentence him to eight years in jail - far short of the maximum death penalty allowed under Indonesian law.

"My arrest, detention and trial was ordered by George Bush and his henchmen because of my struggle to uphold Islamic law in Indonesia," he told the court. "The charges against me are not true. I never ordered other people to carry out the Bali bombing nor the JW Marriott bombings."

Since the trial started in November, Bashir has professed his innocence. But the United States and Australia have publicly accused Bashir of being a key terror leader who helped orchestrate the October 12 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and the August 2003 Marriott attack which killed a total of 214 people.

Says he only taught Islam

"I am not a leader of Jemaah Islamiyah," said Bashir, as his supporters chanted "Allahu akbar" or "God is Great."

"I only taught Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia. I never received any messages from Osama bin Laden as one witness testified in court," he said.

Lawyers for Bashir later called on the court to drop the charges against their client and release him. Judges are expected to announce their verdict in two weeks.

Since the trial started in November, prosecutors have struggled to prove Bashir is a terrorist.

Only one witness testified that he was the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah.

The witness, Nasir Abbas, said he was a former operative with Jemaah Islamiyah and that Bashir claimed to have met with al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Abbas also alleged that Bashir headed Jemaah Islamiyah and swore him in as a group member at a 2000 ceremony in the cleric's hometown of Solo on Indonesia's Java island.

Other witnesses failed to link the cleric to either the Bali or Marriott bombings, which killed a total of 214 people.

- AP