An Indonesian court ruled on Monday that the arrest of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was legal while police said their chief suspect in the Bali bomb attacks was a student of the detained militant preacher.The ruling was a major boost for police, who have faced widespread public scepticism over their motives for arresting Bashir last month over a series of Christian church bombings in Indonesia in 2000 and a plot to kill the President. Police have not tied Bashir to the Bali bomb attacks. Australia to try for home trial CANBERRA: Australia’s Attorney-General Daryl Williams said on Monday he was seeking to prosecute on home soil anyone accused of murdering Australians overseas.The proposed legislation comes in the wake of last month’s Bali blasts in which 180 people, including up to 90 Australians, were killed and could be retroactive to bring the Bali bombers to trial. (PTI) Major-General Made Mangku Pastika, head of the multinational police team probing that atrocity, said a man who has confessed to involvement in the Bali blasts was a student of Bashir, but added there was no evidence the cleric had ordered the attack.Pastika also said Bashir was a co-founder of the Jemaah Islamiah militant Muslim network in Malaysia. That marks the first time Indonesia has ever tied the 64-year-old Bashir to Jemaah Islamiah, a southeast Asian militant group that has been linked to Al Qaeda and which has come under suspicion over the October 12 Bali blasts. Regional officials have alleged Bashir was the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah.Police have not said whom they suspect of ordering the October 12 attacks, which killed more than 180 people, mainly foreign tourists. The man who has confessed, an Indonesian aged around 40 and called Amrozi, is the only suspect named so far.Lawyers for Bashir said they would appeal the court ruling. Bashir has repeatedly denied any wrong doing and insists that Jemaah Islamiah does not exist.Police questioning of Bashir has been held up by Bashir’s ill health and the cleric’s reluctance to cooperate. The frail cleric has been getting sympathetic treatment from some elements of Indonesia’s media and elite, partly because of Indonesian respect for elders and also due to suspicions that his arrest was a result of international pressure.(Reuters)
