Earlier
in the trial the main charge that the 66-year-old scholar and his
supporters planned the Bali attack and the 2003 bombing of the
Marriott had been dropped for lack of evidence.
The
Bali bombings were condemned by leading Muslim scholars, including
Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi who branded the attacks as “heinous”
crime.
The
judges were immediately whisked out of the room by armed police.
More
than 2,000 police were deployed around the agriculture ministry
complex in Jakarta where the trial was held.
More
than 500 Bashir supporters packed the public gallery and the ground
outside the building but there were no violent incidents.
“Disappointing”
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Downer described the verdict as “disappointing”
|
The
US and Australia, who long pressured Indonesia to act against Bashir,
described the verdict as “disappointing”.
“It's
satisfying that he has been convicted (but) it's disappointing that
the sentence is just for two-and-a-half years,” Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer told reporters.
Downer
said Australia considered Bashir the spiritual leader of the Jemaah
Islamiyah and as such held him responsible for the Bali bombing, which
killed 88 Australians, reported the Australian Associated Press (AAP).
The
top diplomat said that while the Indonesian judicial system was
“pretty good”, Canberra wanted to see the sentence appealed.
The
same view was echoed by American officials.
US
embassy spokesman Max Kwak welcomed the conviction and said Washington
respects the independence of Indonesia's judiciary.
“However,
given the gravity of the charges on which he [Bashir] was convicted,
we are disappointed at the length of the sentence”, he told AFP.
Lack
of Evidence
Analysts
blamed the “light” sentence on the prosecutors' failure to prepare
a solid case backed by strong evidence.
“In
the end the verdict does not satisfy anybody. Foreign governments are
disappointed while his supporters at home are also disappointed, for
different reasons,” said Dewi Fortuna Anwar of the Habibie Center
think tank.
“Prosecutors
failed to provide concrete evidence on Bashir's involvement in
terrorism, because unless the suspect is directly involved, it is very
hard to prove in our legal system,” he said.
“Foreign
governments are convinced that Abu Bakar Bashir was spiritual leader
of Jemaah Islamiyah based on intelligence they have. But intelligence
data cannot be used in our judicial system,” Anwar told AFP.
Muslim
scholar and political analyst Azyumardi Azra said the verdict
demonstrated the judiciary's independence.
“I
think it's not a question of satisfied or not satisfied. All of us
must respect the due process of law,” he said.
“I
think the reason for the light sentence is because prosecutors, and
before that the police, have failed to provide convincing evidence
about Bashir's involvement in those bombings,” Azra said.
Bashir
was arrested a week after the Bali bombings in October 2002 and was
put on trial the following year.
The
terrorism charges were thrown out but he was found guilty of
immigration offences and jailed.
Police
rearrested him in April last year as he completed his jail term,
citing new evidence of terrorist links and of his alleged leadership
of Jemaah Islamiyah, which is blamed for a series of attacks in the
region.
