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Indonesian prosecutors dropped the most serious terror charges against radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir on Monday for lack of evidence, leaving him facing a possible life sentence instead of death. Prosecutors at his trial in Jakarta said the charge of providing firearms and explosives for terrorist acts, for which the 72-year-old preacher could have faced the death penalty, "could not be proven convincingly." The charge of inciting acts of terrorism was also dropped, leaving only the accusation of providing funding of more than $62,000 to a terrorist group, for which the prosecutors sought a maximum life sentence. Hundreds of Bashir's followers erupted into chants of "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) in support for the man who is regarded as a spiritual leader of Southeast Asian jihadists. As he was led away Bashir told AFP that he rejected the charges and condemned the prosecutors as "friends of the devil." He said the charges were bogus. "I should have been freed," he added. About 2,500 police backed by armored vehicles surrounded the Jakarta courtroom. Bashir said before the hearing that he expected prosecutors to seek his execution. "It is normal that they will seek the death penalty... I've been turned into an icon as if I'm Osama the terrorist," he said, referring to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, killed by US special forces in Pakistan last week. He praised Bin Laden as a "holy warrior" who would be richly rewarded in paradise, and warned US President Barack Obama to repent or become a "dog of hell." AFP |
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