JURIST - Paper Chase: Indonesian cleric found guilty in Bali bombings

[JURIST] An Indonesian court Thursday found radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir [BBC profile] guilty of conspiracy to commit the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings [CNN special report] that killed 202 people. The five-judge panel found that although Ba'asyir was not directly involved in the bombings, he did give his approval for the attack. The panel sentenced Ba'asyir to two and a half years in jail of which ten months will be reduced for time served. The trial was seen by most around the world as a test for Indonesia's judicial attempts to combat terrorism. Both the United States and Australia, which have both linked Ba'asyir of being the spiritual leader of an al-Qaeda linked militant network called Jemaah Islamiah, have already expressed disappointment with the length of the sentence. BBC News has more. From Indonesia, the Jakarta Post provides local coverage.

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