Abu Bakar Bashir

Bashir, who is said by foreign governments to have led the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group, was detained shortly after the October 2002 Bali bombings blamed on the group.

He was not implicated in the bombings that killed 202 people and was instead convicted on unrelated forgery and immigration charges.

A court last September sentenced the 65-year-old Muslim cleric to four years in jail for treason and immigration offenses, but cleared him of the main charge of heading JI.

In December, an appeals court overturned the treason conviction but upheld the conviction for forging identity papers and leaving and entering Indonesia illegally. His sentence was reduced to three years.

Bashir was the cofounder of an Islamic boarding school in Solo on the island of Java. The school has spawned dozens of young militants, several of whom have been convicted in the Bali bombings.

JI has also been blamed for a suicide bombing last year at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 20, 2004
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