Indonesian prosecutors told of bomb plots and assassination plans on today as a frail Muslim cleric went on trial for treason, suspected of leading a violent Southeast Asian Islamic network.
Water cannon were at the ready outside the Meteorology andGeophysics Agency building where the trial of Abu Bakar Bashir is being held.
Scores of police stood guard for Indonesia'shighest-profile case since the Bali bombings that prompted acrackdown on militants.
Spectators were searched before entering the building and again before entering the huge hall, doubling as a courtroom, where a smiling Bashir was greeted by shouts of "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)".
The bearded Bashir was wearing a white Muslim cap, redshawl and a white shirt. Some supporters were all in white andothers in black with such slogans as "Mujahidin" and "I amproud to be the defender of Sharia Islam (Islamic law)" writtenon their clothes.
Prosecutors linked Bashir to incidents ranging from plansto attack priests and an aborted plot to assassinate PresidentMegawati Sukarnoputri when she was still vice president to thebombing of Christian churches.
"The defendant as the leader and controller has givenapproval to bombing plans in several Indonesian citiesincluding the ones carried out on Christmas Eve 2000,"prosecutors said in the indictment, read as Bashir satsilently.
"The purpose of the bombings was to retaliate againstChristians who slaughtered Muslims in Ambon, shake the currentgovernment and boost the jihad spirit among Muslims so that theestablishment of the Daulah Islamiyah (Islamic state) can besmoother," the indictment said.
The island of Ambon has been racked by Christian-Muslimviolence that has killed more than 5,000 people since early1999.
According to the indictment, Bashir's treason is defined asleading efforts to oust the government during the period from1993 to 2001, using the Jemaah Islamiah militant network.
Bashir has denied any wrongdoing and says Jemaah Islamiahdoesn't exist.