Indonesian court rejects radical cleric’s appeal

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a radical Islamic cleric who was convicted of funding a terror training camp.

Abu Bakar Bashir, known as the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah militants behind the 2002 Bali bombings, had sought a judicial review of his June 2011 conviction, for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. A higher court reduced it to nine years, but the Supreme Court reinstated the 15-year sentence in February 2012 on appeal by state prosecutors.

Supreme Court spokesman Suhadi said Thursday the appeal was rejected by a three-member judicial panel in a verdict dated July 27.

Suhadi, who uses one name, said “the judicial review failed to present new evidence.”

“We also did not find any mistakes or irregularities in the verdicts by the district as well as high court,” he said.

Hearings for Bashir’s appeal began in January.

Bashir has neither confirmed nor denied planning attacks. He said the Aceh camp was meant to defend Islam and Muslims.

He acknowledged that the military-style training camp violated the law on firearms but that he was obeying God’s orders in supporting it.

The camp brought together men from almost every known extremist group in the predominantly Muslim country.

They were allegedly planning gun attacks on foreigners in the capital, Jakarta, and the assassinations of moderate leaders, including then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

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This story has been corrected to show that Bashir is serving his original prison term, which court reinstated in 2012.