Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir who heads the conservative Indonesian Mujahidin Council, has faced court in Jakarta charged with attempting to overthrow the Indonesian state. Mr Bashir is accused of setting up the outlawed Jemaah Islamiyah group 10 years ago, as part of a plan to replace the Government with an Islamic state. In a 25-page indictment read to the court, prosecutors accused Mr Bashir of involvement in bomb attacks on Christian churches and plans to assassinate now President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Presenter/Interviewer: Tricia Fitzgerald

Speakers: Abu Bakar Bashir, head of Indonesian Mujahidin Council; Tim Palmer, ABC Correspondent Jakarta; Mahendradata, lawyer for Abu Bakar Bashir; Sidney Jones, International Crisis Group Indonesia.

Fitzgerald: Last year the 65-year old Abu Bakar Bashir claimed he hated President Megawati Sukarnoputri because she was serving US and Jewish interests and was not a good muslim.

Bashir: I very much hate the attitude of Megawati's government because it is a secular government. The President is closer to Jews and non-believers than she is to Islam, although she is outwardly a Muslim, she is stupid and does not understand Islam properly. So Megawati's attitude and her acceptance of anti-terrorism aid from the United States is a great disaster for Muslims.

Fitzgerald: Now he stands accused of plotting to assassinate the President, when she was vice president, and of attempting to overthrow Indonesia's secular Government. If convicted Mr Bashir faces a 15-year-to-life jail term, but the ABC's Tim Palmer says he appeared in court smiling and relaxed.

Palmer: The court was quiet until Abu Bakar Bashir actually entered the court room, at which point around 100 supporters, many of them wearing vests with the words "Taliban or Mujahidin" on them, and many of them were supporters who had travelled from central Java from Solo where the Ngruki Santran is located and Abu Bakar Bashir was in charge of it till his arrest. They erupted the moment he walked into the court room calling out "?", later on making calls about America who's behind terrorism.

Fitzgerald: The long list of indictments held few surprises ... no references to the Bali bombings, but allegations that Mr Bashir planned bomb attacks on western embassy buildings in Singapore and that he orchestrated deadly bomb attacks on churches in Indonesia on Christmas Eve two years ago. Mr Bashir's lawyer Mahendradata says there is little evidence to support those claims and that the case has been put up just to pacify the US government.

Mahendradata: Who's behind the prosecution? The United States government and at least from United States agency. United States now need Abu Bakar Bashir to be a target; in every country they have a target.

Fitzgerald: Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group in Indonesia says it's crucial that the Indonesian Government is seen to be conducting a fair trial so that it doesn't alienate itself from Muslim voters. She says at this stage hard evidence linking Mr Bashir to the charges will be hard to muster.

Jones: The indictment is based largely on the witness testimony of Fais Abu Bakar Bafana, who's currently detained in Singapore, who will not be brought to Jakarta and produced in court as a witness although his testimony can be used in court. But his lawyers are certainly going to complain about the fact that they can't cross examine Fais Bafana in the court room. It's based on the documents that were found in Solo, including a book about the structure and ideological aims of Jemaah Islamiah, but that's a written document and it's not clear that the book in and of itself proves that Jemaah Islamiah was aimed at attacking the Indonesian government, and it's based on the witnessed testimony of some of the Bali suspects who have since recanted their testimony as it related to Abu Bakar Bashir. Now there may well be other evidence that isn't reflected in the indictment per se, but if those three kinds of sources represent the main body of the evidence for the indictment it is going to be a tricky trial.

Fitzgerald: Sidney Jones says if the state loses this case and Mr Bashir is found not guilty it won't have a dramatic impact on Indonesia's campaign to round up terrorist elements.

Jones: Right now there are a lot of people in prison, the Bali bombing trials themselves are going to start in early May. There will certainly be convictions from that set of trials, though I think the Indonesian government has demonstrated that it does have the will to prosecute people on terrorism charges and even if on this particular case they can't prove the accusations, it's not going to be as damaging a blow as it would have been if we hadn't had all these other arrests.