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1,000 students demand release of Ba'asyir

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Jakarta Post - April 22, 2003

Solo – About 1,000 protesting Islamic students Monday demanded the release of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir – the alleged leader of the al-Qaida-linked group Jama'ah Islamiyah – who is to face trial for treason this week.

The students held a noisy but peaceful demonstration outside a courthouse in the central Javanese city of Solo, 600 kilometers east of Jakarta, and near their boarding school that was founded by Ba'asyir, a Muslim cleric.

"Release our teacher, he is innocent," said of their banners. "Indonesia has been pressured by terrorist America." Policemen outside the court building took no action against the peaceful protest, Associated Press reported.

Ba'asyir is slated to go on trial in Jakarta on Wednesday. Authorities accuse him of being behind the bombings of 38 churches in Indonesian on Christmas Eve 2000, in which 19 people were killed. They also allege he plotted to destabilize thegovernment.

Ba'asyir has said he is innocent and that he is the victim of a US conspiracy against Muslim activists. If convicted he could be imprisoned for life.

Jama'ah Islamiyah members are separately accused in the October 12 bombings on the resort island of Bali, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Police have not directly linked Bashir to that mass murder.

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