Indonesian Cleric Charged in Bombing

Abu Bakar Bashir, the Islamic cleric who is believed to lead the Jemaah Islamiah extremist group, has been charged with ordering a suicide bombing that killed a dozen people at Jakarta’s JW Marriott hotel in August 2003.

Jemaah Islamiah has been blamed for a string of attacks in Indonesia beginning in 1999 that killed 224 people. “Bashir is charged with motivating or ordering people to take part in terrorism, in this case related to the JW Marriott bombing,” prosecutor Andi Herman said after filing a 65-page charge sheet in South Jakarta District Court.

Bashir also will be charged with storing explosives in connection with a massive seizure of bomb-making materials last year in Central Java province, Herman said.

However, authorities will not charge him in 2002’s Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people because the country’s highest court ruled this year that applying Indonesia’s anti-terrorism law retroactively was unconstitutional.

The United States and Australia have campaigned to keep Bashir imprisoned, accusing him of heading Jemaah Islamiah and orchestrating attacks on civilians. Many victims in Bali were Australian vacationers.

Bashir, 67, has been jailed since 2002, when he was convicted of immigration infractions.

He denied involvement in the Marriott suicide attack and said he was being targeted for his campaign to introduce Islamic law in Indonesia and for speaking out against U.S. foreign policy. Bashir could face the death penalty if convicted.