JAKARTA, April 23: Indonesia put a preacher suspected of leading a violent Southeast Asian Muslim network on trial for treason on Wednesday, a landmark case in the crackdown on radicals in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Prosecutors described bomb plots and assassination plans at the trial of Abu Bakar Bashir, which is being held in a government agency building. Water cannon were at the ready outside and scores of police stood guard.
The hearing was later adjourned until April 30.
Spectators were searched before entering the building and again before entering the hall, doubling as a courtroom.
The trial is a test for the government of secular-minded President Megawati Sukarnoputri as she walks a tightrope between a tough position against terror and persuading the nation’s Muslim masses that the effort does not target Islam.
Before bombs rocked the resort island of Bali last October, killing 202 people, Indonesia drew fire from a number of foreign officials for seeming to drag its feet in the war on terror. Bashir has been linked to Bali, but not in this case.
Prosecutors linked Bashir to incidents ranging from plans to attack Christian priests, an aborted plot to assassinate Megawati when she was vice-president and the bombing of churches.—Reuters
