Prosecutors accused Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir of plotting terror bombings in Indonesia and Singapore as part of a campaign to topple the Indonesian government and set up an Islamic state.
An indictment filed in court describes the Muslim cleric as "emir" or leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network which is blamed for a series of bombings or attempted bombings in the region. Bashir is formally charged with treason, which is punishable with a 20-year jail term, and three immigration offences.
He is accused of conspiring to commit treason with Abdullah Sungkar, Hambali, Zulkarnaen, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas. Hambali, as the suspected former operations chief of JI, is Asia's most wanted man. Samudra and Mukhlas are awiting trial for the Bali bombings last October which killed 202 people.
The 25-page charge sheet does not accuse Bashir, 64, of direct involvement in the Bali bombings. But it says he gave his blessing to the Christmas Eve bombings of churches and priests in 2000 which killed 19 people in Indonesia.
Bashir "also approved the planning to bomb American interests in Singapore known as programme C," it says. Singapore foiled that bombing plot with the arrest of a large number of JI suspects.
The charges, along with thousands of pages of evidence, were handed over in preparation for a trial. A court official said it could take part in Jakarta "within weeks." "The defendant is the leader and organiser of treason with the intention of topple the government and fulfilling his intention of setting up the Islamic State of Indonesia," the charge reads.
It says Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar, who has since died of natural causes, set up JI in the 1990s with Sungkar as leader and Bashir as his deputy.
The three immigration charges accuse Bashir of making false documents to show he is a resident of the Java town of Ngruki, where he set up an Islamic boarding school. Bashir is also accused of making a false affidavit about his whereabouts from 1985 to 1999 and with failing to carry out his obligations as a foreigner in Indonesia.
Bashir fled to Malaysia in 1985 after serving a three-year jail term for subversion but never notified the Indonesian embassy there of his presence – a necessary requirement if he wished to retain his Indonesian citizenship. He returned to Indonesia after the fall of dictator Suharto in 1998.
Bashir, who was detained last October, was not present in court. He denies any links to terrorism but has described al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as "a true Muslim fighter."