Oct. 29
AFGHANISTAN:
3 Afghans Sentenced to Death for Killing Chinese
In Kabul, an Afghan court has sentenced to death 3 Afghans convicted of
killing 11 Chinese road engineers in the northeastern province of Kunduz
last June,a Supreme Court Judge said on Friday.
8 accomplices were given prison terms of up to 15 years when the case
concluded on Wednesday, Judge Abdul Bari Bakhtyari told Reuters.
The ringleader, General Mohammad Akbar, had been a commander in Kunduz for
the Northern Alliance, a coalition of militias that helped the United
States to topple the Taliban in late 2001 after it refused to hand over al
Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on U.S.
cities.
The other 2 men sentenced to death with the former commander were
identified as Noor Mohammad and Mohammad Asif.
"Noor Mohammad has pleaded guilty while the other two pleaded innocent,"
the judge said. "But we have enough evidence against the other 2,
including confessions from Noor Mohammad and from the father of General
Akbar."
Those convicted can appeal and if the appeal is rejected only intervention
by President Hamid Karzai could overturn the death sentence, Bakhtyari
said.
While Akbar had been with the Northern Alliance he had also had contact
with remnants of the Taliban, he said.
Taliban spokesmen have denied involvement, and there has been speculation
the killings were linked to rivalry over construction contracts.
The engineers worked for a Chinese corporation on a road reconstruction
project in Kunduz. The shooting as they slept in their tents was the
bloodiest single act against foreigners in Afghanistan since the fall of
the Taliban.
More than 1,000 people, including aid workers, Afghan and foreign troops
and militants, have been killed since the Taliban stepped up a campaign of
violence a year ago. Most attacks have occurred in southern and eastern
areas where the insurgents are most active and have traditionally found
support.
(source: Reuters)
INDONESIA:
Indonesia Brings New Case Against Cleric Tied to Terror
Indonesian prosecutors opened a new terrorism trial on Thursday against an
Islamic cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, charging him in connection with the
suicide bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003 and the bombings
of 2 nightclubs in Bali in 2002.
Mr. Bashir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesian-based
terrorist organization affiliated with Al Qaeda, was acquitted of related
terrorism charges a year ago. But under pressure from the United States
and Australia, the Indonesian government continued to detain him while
seeking evidence to support the new charges.
According to a 65-page indictment that was read in court on Thursday, Mr.
Bashir read a message from Osama bin Laden to Jemaah Islamiyah recruits at
a training camp in the Philippines, calling on them to kill Americans and
their allies.
Outside the courtroom, the trial raises the issue of how far the United
States is willing to go in helping countries combat terrorism. Key
witnesses against Mr. Bashir, a bespectacled 66-year-old, are in United
States custody at secret locations, and the Bush administration has barred
Indonesian investigators from questioning them.
The trial also presents a quandary for Indonesia's new president, Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono. Mr. Yudhoyono, a retired general who was sworn in last
week, has promised to crack down on terrorism, a commitment welcomed by
Washington.
At the same time, he has said that there is no proof that Jemaah Islamiyah
exists, which runs directly counter to assertions by the United States, as
well as Australia and the United Nations, which have banned the
organization.
The United States has captured at least two Indonesians who it says are
major figures in the group. They link Mr. Bashir to Jemaah Islamiyah and
to terrorist acts.
The more important of the 2 is Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali,
who was seized in a Central Intelligence Agency operation in Bangkok in
August 2003.
A senior intelligence official from a country closely aligned with the
United States said it was reasonable for the United States not to allow
the Indonesians access to the suspects during the earlier stages of the
interrogation. But now, the official said, after more than a year,
Indonesian interrogators should be allowed to talk to Hambali directly.
"They cannot have it both ways," he said, pressing the Indonesians to
prosecute Mr. Bashir but withholding crucial evidence.
Hambali, who was Al Qaeda's point man in Southeast Asia, arranging for
money, bomb-making expertise and suicide bombers, has told his American
interrogators that he had pledged his loyalty to and got his marching
orders from, Mr. Bashir, according to "The 9/11 Commission Report."
It will be hard for the Indonesian prosecutors to use the information in
court against Mr. Bashir without calling Hambali as a witness, giving Mr.
Bashir's lawyers an opportunity to cross-examine him.
A senior American official said that the decision not to turn Hambali over
to the Indonesians was made by the White House.
Near the end of Thursday's court session, Mr. Bashir, wearing his
trademark white Muslim skullcap, addressed the judges, accusing the
Americans and Australians of pressuring Indonesia to pursue the case
against him.
"I ask the panel of judges and the prosecutors to be careful of attempts
from these 2 enemies of God, the United States and Australia," he said.
Mr. Bashir was not required to enter a formal plea. While often expressing
admiration for Osama bin Laden, and for the men who carried out the
attacks on the Bali nightclubs, which killed 202, he has repeatedly said
he had no involvement in terrorist acts.
In September 2003, a court acquitted him of several terrorism charges and
said there was no evidence that he was the head of Jemaah Islamiyah. He
was convicted on minor immigration charges.
The current trial was adjourned until next week, and is expected to last
several months.
(source: New York Times)
