Militants’ Testimony Fails to Aid Case Against Indonesian Cleric

Six convicted Islamic militants testified Thursday that they knew of hard-line Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir but could not say whether he led the regional Jemaah Islamiah terrorist group, as prosecutors charge.

It was the latest setback for the prosecution’s case against Bashir, who is accused of heading the Al Qaeda affiliate allegedly behind the 2002 bombings that killed 202 on Indonesia’s Bali island and last year’s attack on the Marriott hotel in the capital, Jakarta, that killed 12.

Bashir was acquitted last year on related terrorism charges after prosecutors failed to produce enough evidence. That verdict disappointed the United States and Australia, which have publicly accused the 66-year-old cleric of being a key terrorist leader.

Three of the militants who testified Thursday said they heard Bashir speak about Islam but never heard him endorse terrorism. Three others said they had never met the cleric and only knew of him through the media.

Convicted militant Rusman Gunawan told the court that he stopped in neighboring Malaysia en route to Pakistan and heard Bashir give a sermon in November 1999.

But when asked whether Bashir incited jihad, or holy war, Gunawan replied, “Not once. The speech only touched upon the importance of praying and fasting.”

Gunawan, the younger brother of alleged Southeast Asian terrorist leader Hambali, acknowledged meeting Bashir but denied that the two were close.

He was sentenced in October to four years in jail on charges of sending thousands of dollars from Pakistan, where he was studying, to help finance the Marriott bombing.

Another witness, Hutomo, who is serving a three-year sentence for harboring militants, described himself in court as a regional leader of Jemaah Islamiah, which he said was nothing more than a “missionary group.”