Abu Bakar Bashir

Judges also cleared Bashir of allegations that, as head of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group, he planned the 2003 suicide bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel, which killed 12 people, and that he incited his followers to launch terrorist attacks.

Bashir, who could be released by October 2006, had faced a maximum penalty of death in the three top charges, but most analysts had predicted his punishment would be far less -- partly due to a weak case by prosecutors.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 12, 2005
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