Jakarta – A hardline Indonesian Muslim group agreed yesterday to retain suspected terror group chief Abu Bakar Bashir as its leader for another five years.

The Indonesian Mujahedin Council (MMI), closing its congress in the Central Java city of Solo, also urged the government to acquit the detained Bashir of all charges.

The Muslim cleric is on trial in Jakarta for plotting to overthrow the government and to set up an Islamic state. Prosecutors earlier yesterday sought a 15-year jail sentence for him. Prosecutors and police say Bashir heads the Jemaah Islamiah.

"The congress has appointed ustadz [teacher] Abu Bakar Bashir as the emir of the mujahedin for the 2003-2008 period," a closing statement from MMI said. Bashir, 64, has chaired the MMI – an umbrella organisation for groups advocating Islamic syariah law in Indonesia – since 2000.

In a written address to the congress from jail, the cleric called on Sunday for Muslims to keep campaigning peacefully for syariah law. The closing statement said the MMI "opposes all forms of terrorism, be they conducted by individuals, groups or states, because this runs against Islamic syariah".