(30 Jan 2003)
1. Wide exterior of courthouse
2. Close up court sign
3. Judges enter courtroom
4. Various of prosecution and judges
5. Defendant Jafar Umar Thalib enters and sits down
6. Side view of Thalib
7. Thalib's lawyers
8. Various of Thalib smiling
9. Wide shot from back of court
10. People watching
11. Journalists
12. Thalib standing as verdict is delivered
13. UPSOUND (Indonesian) Judge announcing not guilty verdict
14. Thalib's lawyers
15. Thalib standing and shaking hands with judge, supporters chant "Allah Akbar" and cheer
16. Police outside court
17. Thalib's car leaving, surrounded by supporters
STORYLINE:
A prominent Muslim militant was acquitted on Thursday of urging his followers to wage a war against Indonesia's Christian minority.
The verdict is likely to raise questions about the country's commitment to crack down on Islamic radicals.
Jafar Umar Thalib, leader of the now-defunct Laskar Jihad militia, was accused of inciting his followers to violence in a speech delivered in April at the main mosque in the eastern town of Ambon.
Two days later, an unidentified gang of Muslims attacked a Christian village and killed 12 people.
Thalib also was accused of insulting President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the same speech.
But Judge Mansur Nasution said prosecutors had failed to prove that Thalib was guilty.
Laskar Jihad has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in the three-year religious war in the Maluku islands and in Central Sulawesi that ended in 2001.
The group was reportedly set up by a hardline faction within the Indonesian army following the overthrow of longtime military dictator President Suharto in 1998 with the aim of destabilising democratic governments.
It was abruptly disbanded soon after the Oct. 12 Bali nightclub bombings, when international attention focused on radical groups operating within Indonesia.
Thalib's trial was closely monitored by the United States, which hopes that Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim nation - can serve as a bulwark against Islamic extremism.
Jakarta touted Thalib's arrest in May as evidence of the government's cooperation in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
1. Wide exterior of courthouse
2. Close up court sign
3. Judges enter courtroom
4. Various of prosecution and judges
5. Defendant Jafar Umar Thalib enters and sits down
6. Side view of Thalib
7. Thalib's lawyers
8. Various of Thalib smiling
9. Wide shot from back of court
10. People watching
11. Journalists
12. Thalib standing as verdict is delivered
13. UPSOUND (Indonesian) Judge announcing not guilty verdict
14. Thalib's lawyers
15. Thalib standing and shaking hands with judge, supporters chant "Allah Akbar" and cheer
16. Police outside court
17. Thalib's car leaving, surrounded by supporters
STORYLINE:
A prominent Muslim militant was acquitted on Thursday of urging his followers to wage a war against Indonesia's Christian minority.
The verdict is likely to raise questions about the country's commitment to crack down on Islamic radicals.
Jafar Umar Thalib, leader of the now-defunct Laskar Jihad militia, was accused of inciting his followers to violence in a speech delivered in April at the main mosque in the eastern town of Ambon.
Two days later, an unidentified gang of Muslims attacked a Christian village and killed 12 people.
Thalib also was accused of insulting President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the same speech.
But Judge Mansur Nasution said prosecutors had failed to prove that Thalib was guilty.
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