April 19
INDONESIA: Death-row Bali bomber defends Ba'asyir in court The 'smiling assassin' and death-row Bali bomber Amrozi testified Wednesday that the jailed Muslim militant cleric and alleged terrorist leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was not involved in the 2002 Bali bombings. Security was tight with hundreds of police and military personnel, including heavily-armed paramilitary officers, police dogs and bomb squads, as well as navy soldiers stood guard for the courtroom appearance of death-row Bali bomber Amrozi in support of Ba'asyir's claim of innocence. Hundreds of people attended Wednesday's court hearing at Central Java's Cilacap district court. Many of the attendants were outside the courtroom, watching the hearing through televisions set up by authorities. Amrozi arrived at the court amid extra-tight security from the prison island of Nusakambangan, dubbed 'Indonesias Alcatraz,' located a short distance off the coast from Cilacap. He is the key witness in defence of handing jailed hardline Muslim cleric Ba'asyir a case review. He returned shouts of 'Allahu Akbar', or God is Great, from some 200 supporters of Ba'asyir's Indonesian Mujahedin Council (MMI) before entering the courtroom. 'Ustadz (cleric) Abu (Bakar Ba'asyir) was not involved whatsoever in the (2002) Bali bombings,' Amrozi told the court, adding that he and others had been tortured into implicating Ba'asyir in the attacks. 'All of us who make confession about Ustadz Abu involvement had been tortured,' Amrozi said. 'We were all tortured to admit we were ordered by (Abu Bakar) Ba'asyir.' Ba'asyir, 67, was sentenced in March last year to 30 months in prison for his involvement in the conspiracy that led to the October 2002 Bali bombings, which killed at least 202 people, mostly foreign visitors. But the verdict against the cleric relied heavily on a police statement purportedly made by a convicted Bali bomber named Mubarok, the veracity of which was not proven during the trial. Mubarok, who told authorities that he and Amrozi met Ba'asyir at the cleric's home two months before the attack, allegedly told police during questioning that Ba'asyir said, 'I leave it up to you. You are the ones who know the situation on the ground,' when he was notified by Amrozi that he and his friends were planning 'an event' in Bali. Ba'asyir's defence lawyers have claimed Amrozi's statement in court would be used as evidence of the cleric's innocence and be given to the Supreme Court in Jakarta. Ba'asyir has consistently denied any involvement in terrorism and says he is being victimized because he campaigns for strict Islamic law in Indonesia. Amrozi's court appearance may be the last in public before he faces a firing squad. Along with 2 co-conspirators, Imam Samudra and his elder brother Ali Gufron, Amrozi are awaiting execution for masterminding the 2002 Bali bombings. The three are behind held at Nusakambagan prison. The US and Australia have publicly accused Ba'asyir of being the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). The US Treasury Department last week declared Ba'asyir was a terrorist and said any bank accounts or other financial assets held by Ba'asyir found in the US would be frozen. Ba'asyir's close aide, Fauzan Al Ansori, said the accusations were malicious slander and a 'dirty trick aimed at making up reasons for re-arrest.' Ba'asyir, who is expected to be released from prison in June, was first arrested a week after the Bali bombings on October 12, 2002. He was put on trial the following year. Using the ordinary criminal code, the court said there was not enough evidence to prove Ba'asyir led JI. However, the court sentenced him to 18 months for immigration offences. Police rearrested Ba'asyir in late April 2004, immediately after being released from jail, and charged him with Indonesia's anti-terror law passed in the wake of the Bali bombings. (source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur) PHILIPPINES: Arroyo certifies as urgent bill abolishing death penalty PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has certified as urgent a bill abolishing the death penalty. Arroyo made the announcement to reporters in a gathering in Malacaang Wednesday to celebrate the 61st birthday of Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye. Arroyo said she certified as urgent Committee Report 1142 of House Bill 4826 (An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of Death Penalty in the Philippines) Tuesday night. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita signed the transmittal letters to Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia. But Arroyo said she expected "problems" at the Senate where "things were moving slowly because they were always investigating." "That's why we have to change the system of government," Arroyo said, referring to a Malacaang-backed initiative to shift to a parliamentary system from a presidential form of government. Signed in 1994, the death penalty law was carried out on 7 convicts during the term of deposed president Joseph Estrada. When Arroyo assumed office, she imposed a moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty and granted reprieves to 104 convicts on death row. In her Easter message, Arroyo said she would commute all death sentences to life imprisonment, stressing this would be her policy for the remainder of her term until 2010. Earlier on Wednesday, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita reiterated that the Presidents decision to commute the sentences of more than 1,000 convicts on death row did not mean that Arroyo was courting the bishops who had lauded her move. Anti-crime advocates, victims, and several lawyers criticized her and warned that she could be violating the Constitution. But Ermita said the President's latest announcement was consistent with her stance on capital punishment. Prior to the Presidents declaration, the Supreme Court had affirmed with finality the death sentences on 80 convicts. (source: Philippine Daily Inquirer) CHINA: China Criticized for Alleged Use of Prisoner Organs British transplant experts accused China on Wednesday of removing organs from executed prisoners without their consent in order to sell them. The British Transplantation Society (BTS) said there is an accumulating body of evidence that suggests organs of executed prisoners are being removed for transplants and sold without the prior consent of the prisoners or their families. Although the exact number of organs taken from prisoners is unknown, the BTS said the figure could be in the thousands. "The British Transplantation Society condemns unreservedly any activity that transgresses an individual's human rights or involves the coercion of an individual to become an organ donor," Stephen Wigmore, chairman of the BTS ethics committee, said in a statement. "The alleged use of organs from executed prisoners without consent is considered a breach of human rights and is an unacceptable practice," he added. Human rights groups have also criticized the use of organs from executed prisoners and the hospitals that have allegedly turned to organ sales and transplants to raise funds. Last month China said it would ban the sale of human organs and strengthen procedures for transplants by requiring written consent and limiting the number of hospitals doing the surgery. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said there had been cases where organs of executed prisoners were used without their consent. But he said the cases were rare and against the law. He added that the same strict procedures apply to using organs from executed criminals as using them from deceased volunteer donors. The BTS described the alleged sale of organs from executed prisoners as a "lamentable practice." (source: Reuters)
