Thirty months for the Bali bombings. That makes Bashir Indonesia's William Zanzinger. From Reuters, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:
JAKARTA, May 16 (Reuters) - An Indonesian high court has upheld a two-and-a-half year sentence handed to Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for his role in the 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people, an official said on Monday.Lawyers for Bashir, who is accused by some foreign governments of leading the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network, said they would appeal to the Supreme Court once they received official confirmation.
"In their ruling, the panel of judges upheld the verdict made by the South Jakarta district court (on March 3)," Hussein Kasim, spokesman of the Jakarta High Court, told reporters.
I wonder if Bashir has a cane that he twirls round his diamond ring finger.
islam Has no place in America. Not today. Not ever.
No muslims. No mosques.
I dunno about the Zanztinger analogy, Robert.
The judges on that case possibly feared that a longer sentence (to be served at the state prison) could have resulted in his murder by the black population in there. (Zanztinger attacked people at a bar with his cane; one black barmaid died as a result). SO the judges sentenced him to a mere 6 months, served at county.
In Bashir's case, any amount of time served in jail could only result in his being lionized by fellow inmates!
Of course, not to discount that Zanztinger's wealth and influence played a big part; he deserved a full life term, if not the chair!
Ah but what goes around comes around.
I just did a (very) quick google, being bored with cleaning and not being familiar with that particular Dylan song. Not only did Zantziger go down for somewhat longer in 1991 for fraud, having first had his property confiscated for tax debt, only 2 months ago his new home burnt down.
http://www.stmarystoday.com/february_2005_news_stories.htm
You have to scroll down right to the end for the story.
I can now delay the rest of the cleaning by examining my husband's Dylan collection (I'm sure it needs dusting) and filling this gap in my knowledge.
Bashir will get his just desserts.
Granny:
A lawyer friend used to assure me that time wounds all heels. The Saudi "nobility" have fed the monster of Islamism for no other purpose than to consolidate their absolute control over their realm, only to find themselves targets, threatened by the likes of OBL and others who find them not "Islamic enough".
"Time wounds all heels"
That's very neat. And true.
That's less that five days inside for each person who was murdered.
Granny:
By the way, as you are looking through your husband's collection of Dylan albums, keep an eye out for Infidels and give a listen to "Neighbourhood Bully", Dylan's take on the hypocrits who condemned Israel for bombing Sadddam's French-built nuclear plant.
God, I loathe that grinning gibbon, Bashir. He has some cheek to actually appeal that paltry, insultingly inadequate sentence. But then, it was only filthy kafirs that were killed. I'm sure he feels he should be rewarded, not imprisoned.
And I suppose Indonesia feels it has to make this token gesture to Australia that it's serious about fighting terror. Anything, to keep the foreign aid money coming.
Bashir's sentence had to be upheld because many critical eyes are on Indonesia right now. Australians are watching closely, because there is an Australian girl on trial in Bali who has been accused of smuggling in a bag of marijuana (as if!). If convicted, she faces life in prison but the prosecutors are also entitled to order her to be executed by firing squad. Most people believe her to be innocent, there is a credible story explaining how the weed got into her bag, but Indonesian judges apparently do not comprehend the concept of reasonable doubt.
It would be difficult for them to allow this terrorist-supporting freak to go free when they are preparing to sentence an Australian girl to life in some Indonesian hellhole prison.
Many Australians have vowed never to set foot in this country again (Bali is a popular Australian holiday destination) and many travel agents are refusing to book tickets for Indonesia.
Bashir should have gotten a death sentence, not a slap on the wrist. You can bet he'll be treated like a king in prison. If the Indonesians could have gotten away with it, they would have freed him and given him a medal.
Diana, I wonder if we'll see pictures of Bashir enjoying a latte at Starbucks, like that grub Ali Imron? That's how serious Indonesia is about fighting terrorism. If Shappelle is unfortunately convicted (as I believe she will be), somehow I doubt she'll get any outings to Starbucks.
Indonesia lets us know constantly how they loathe us.
Diane C. & feralee-
Why are Aussies supporting these intolerant dungheaps anyway?
There are civilized countries with beaches.
The sooner you stop funding their lunacy, the sooner they'll have to start controlling their maniacs.
Billions for defense, not one cent for tribute.
BigSleep - exactly the same question that many Aussies are asking. Everyone I have ever spoken to on this subject wants the government to stop giving money and aid to Indonesia. I think, if it were up to most Australians, we would give them nothing. It goes back to the Keating ALP government - Keating tried to sign a secret treaty with the Fascist Indonesian military before he finally was voted out. He was into kissing Indonesian butt bigtime, the way lefties do.
I hope the Corby case changes the mindset of those who would kowtow to the Indos. They will always hate us, 1. because we are a free and propserous country, and 2. because we exposed their brutality in East Timor to the world.
Feralee - poor girl, I have a daughter about the same age, I can only imagine this horror happening to her. I think she will be convicted, her lawyers seem to think so, but are placing their faith in an appeal.
The judges have made up their minds already - just as they did in the Bashir case. I hope Australians stick to their decision to boycott Indonesia. I will certainly never set foot in the place. I wonder how generous Australians would have been if this had happened before the tsunami.
Yeah, BigSleep, good questions, questions we all ask ourselves and each other and wonder WTF??? Like Diana says, it's all about politics. Backroom stuff we are not privy too, or perhaps naive appeasing government that feels it's the right thing to do. We committed a lot of money for tsunami aid, and predictably that's turning chaotic. People are still homeless, still walking around in rags, wondering when help is forthcoming. What are they doing with the money?
Diana, the Corby case has swayed me against Indonesia. I won't be going there and I am taking care to not buy Indonesian products. Sure, they can have tough drug laws (I wish our own were tougher), but from what I've seen of the trial, I don't trust them. They seem hell bent on prosecuting for the sake of just seeming like tough guys, of sending a message. There's way too much doubt with Corby's case. But that doesn't seem to matter.