Treason Trial for Terror Suspect

Abu Bakar Bashir, the accused leader of the Jemaah Islamiah terror network, went on trial on treason charges Wednesday just as police were arresting another terror suspect they identified as his replacement.

Police said they had arrested 18 Jemaah Islamiah members, including little-known terror suspect Abu Rusdan, who was allegedly picked by Bashir to run Jemaah Islamiah after the 64-year-old religious leader was arrested in October.

“He was given the authority after the arrest of Abu Bakar Bashir to lead Jemaah Islamiah,” said Erwin Mappaseng, national police chief of detectives. “Since Bashir could not carry out his tasks, he appointed Abu Rusdan to fulfill the duties of emir.”

Also arrested was Nasir Abbas, the alleged head of Jemaah Islamiah operations in parts of Indonesia and the Philippines. His brother, Hashim, was arrested in Singapore in 2001 for allegedly plotting to blow up the U.S. Embassy, and his brother-in-law, Ali Gufron, also known as Muchlas, was arrested last year for allegedly organizing a bombing in Bali that killed 202 people.

Police Chief Dai Bachtiar said the 18 suspects were preparing to stage another attack when they were arrested, although police have not identified the target. Police said they seized weapons, explosives and detonators from the suspects during raids near Jakarta and on the island of Sulawesi.

Three of them allegedly took part in the Bali bombing.

Authorities say Jemaah Islamiah is affiliated with the Al Qaeda terror network and has plotted bombings, killings and robberies in at least four Southeast Asian countries.

Jemaah Islamiah operatives are accused of carrying out the Bali nightclub bombing and a series of church bombings in Indonesia on Christmas Eve 2000 that killed 19. The group also is accused of killing more than 50 people in bombings in the Philippines, including two blasts in Davao City in recent weeks.

The organization’s goal is to establish a Taliban-style Islamic state across much of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the southern Philippines. The group has been listed by the Bush administration as a terrorist organization.

Indonesia was slow to recognize the existence of the organization, but after the Bali bombing, police arrested Bashir, who earlier had been identified by other countries as the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah.

Although several of Bashir’s disciples allegedly played major roles in the Bali attack, investigators could not find sufficient evidence linking him to the bombing.

Bashir is charged with seeking to overthrow the government and to replace it with an Islamic state. The indictment alleges that he gave his blessing to the Christmas Eve church bombings. It also accuses him of failing to maintain his Indonesian citizenship during 14 years of self-imposed exile.

Police say Bashir was in their custody in a Solo hospital when his son passed a message to Rusdan that he should take over the leader’s duties. The son was not identified.

The recent wave of arrests began Friday, police said. Rusdan was arrested Wednesday morning, coincidentally just as the chief prosecutor was reading the 25-page indictment to Bashir.

Wearing his trademark white cap and robes, Bashir listened calmly to the allegations. More than 100 of his students and supporters packed the state meteorology department auditorium, where the trial is being held, occasionally interrupting the proceedings with shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” or God is Great.

Bashir, who contends that he is simply a religious teacher, told the court that he would dispute the charges. As police escorted him back to jail, he repeated his contention that the allegations are “lies from America.” His lawyers will have their opportunity to rebut the charges at the next court session in a week.

Defense attorney Adnan Buyung Nasution said that the case against the religious leader is “very, very weak” and that it was “fabricated” to support allegations made earlier by the U.S.

Much of the evidence against Bashir comes from Jemaah Islamiah members who have been arrested, particularly Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, a Malaysian leader who was arrested in Singapore for his alleged role in the unsuccessful plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy and other targets there.

Bafana has said he attended meetings with Bashir in which the religious leader approved the church bombings and a plan to kill priests, but it is unclear whether he will be brought to Jakarta to testify against Bashir.

Suspects arrested in the Bali bombing also have implicated Bashir in earlier plots, but one key witness has recanted and now claims that he was tortured.

“I think it’s going to be very difficult for the court to prove [treason] because such a thing never happened,” said Bashir’s son, Abdul Rohim, 25, a teacher at the Islamic school in Solo that Bashir helped found.

Court sessions will be held intermittently, and it may be months before the five-judge panel reaches a verdict.

Bashir is represented by a team of 80 attorneys, but only 18 appeared in court. Seven prosecutors represent the government. As Bashir left court, his supporters chanted, “America. Infidel. America. Infidel.”