Indonesia Braces For Bashir Verdict

The Indonesian capital Jakarta was on high alert Thursday with a court in the trial of Abu Bakar Bashir expected to deliver its verdict on terrorism charges against the radical cleric.

Police on Wednesday tightened security at shopping centres across the sprawling city and deployed extra personnel following threats warning of "bomb blasts in a number of places".

More than 3,000 police and soldiers backed by armoured vehicles and several snipers will also guard the South Jakarta district court as the closely watched trial reaches its conclusion.

Bashir, 72, is accused of providing funding of more than $62,000 to a terrorist group dubbed Al-Qaeda in Aceh that was plotting attacks in Indonesia. Prosecutors have sought a maximum life sentence.

He is seen as a spiritual leader of Southeast Asian militants, but he denies any role in terrorist activity.

Police were taking the special precautions after phone text messages threatening terror attacks circulated in the mainly Muslim country, said Jakarta police chief Sutarman, who goes by one name.

"There are many such text phone messages circulating with some containing serious (threats). We won't play down such threats," he told reporters.

Court spokesman Ida Bagus Dwiyantara said judges who handled Bashir's case had also received the text messages warning of multiple bomb blasts.

"Police will provide special security to the judges," Dwiyantara said.

Security forces will be stationed around the court and only people with special identification passes such as journalists will be allowed on the premises, where the cleric's supporters are expected to try and congregate.

Indonesia has been rocked by a series of attacks staged by regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.

Bashir served almost 26 months behind bars over the Bali bombings but his conviction was overturned after his release in 2006.

During his latest trial, the pugnacious and bearded Bashir accused the United States and liberal Muslims of trying to frame him.

"Prosecutors should realise that all trials which judge and punish the mujahid in Aceh are manipulations by the people who don't follow (Islamic law) to fulfil the interests of the US tyrant and its cronies," he said.

"Because my rhetoric is considered dangerous, the dream of the US tyrant and its cronies could be realised with a life sentence," he added.

He rejected the prosecution's case that his radical organisation, Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), was a front for terrorist activity.

Indonesia is struggling to deal with the threat of homegrown Islamist militants who oppose the country's secular, democratic system and want to create a caliphate across much of Southeast Asia.

- By Agence France-Presse

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