Abu Bakar Bashir

Bashir was also charged with heading the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, blamed for the August 2003 Jakarta Marriott hotel blast, which killed 12, and the October 2002 Bali bomb strikes in which 202 died.

The move to charge Bashir, 65, follows fraught legal wrangling as police and prosecutors struggled to build a case after Indonesia's top court robbed them of the right to use anti-terror laws to convict Bashir over Bali.

In July, the Constitutional Court said powerful legislation rushed into law in the wake of the Bali blasts could not be backdated to cover that attack -- although it can be used to try suspects in the subsequent Marriott bombing.

The court said existing Bali-related convictions will stand, but a judge's decision Aug. 24 that dismissed charges against a key suspect in the resort island attacks has fueled fears that many key bombers will escape justice.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 4, 2004
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