JAKARTA - THE terrorism trial of a Muslim cleric who regularly praises Al-Qaeda's brand of global jihad opened in Indonesia on Thursday amid high security and a surge in sectarian violence that has left three dead.
Hardline supporters of 72-year-old radical preacher Abu Bakar Bashir surrounded the south Jakarta court as hundreds of heavily armed police stood by to prevent further outbreaks of mob violence that have shaken Indonesia this week.
The world's most populous Muslim-majority country - often praised for its pluralism and tolerance - is still in shock after the gruesome lynching of three members of a minority Islamic sect by an enraged Muslim mob on Sunday.
Two days later another mob of Islamic extremists launched an anti-Christian rampage through the streets of Temanggung, also on the main island of Java, in some of the worst religious violence the country has seen for years.
Wearing his customary white robes and religious garb, a grinning Bashir entered the courtroom to chants of 'jihad' (holy war) and 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) from his followers. 'I'm fine. Prophet Muhammad was also like me,' he told reporters.
The trial was quickly adjourned until Monday after the bespectacled cleric's defence team complained that he had not been given the minimum three-days notice to appear in court. -- AFP
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