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World in brief

U.S., Australia angered by sentence in Indonesian attacks

By wire services
Published March 4, 2005

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The United States denounced a 21/2-year sentence for a militant Islamic cleric Thursday, calling the Indonesian court's ruling too lenient for the man alleged to head a regional terror group behind a string of deadly bombings.

The verdict by a five-judge panel could see Abu Baka Bashir freed next year and was a setback for the Indonesian government's campaign to prove the cleric is responsible for attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Officials contend Bashir is the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked group blamed for bombings in Bali's nightclub district that killed 202 people in 2002, a suicide bombing at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed a dozen in 2003 and other attacks.

The judges convicted Bashir of conspiracy in the Bali attack, but they acquitted him on the more serious charges of planning the Marriott bombing and of inciting followers to stage terrorist attacks.

The 30-month sentence was decried by the governments of the United States and Australia, which hoped for a lengthy prison term to deter terrorism in Indonesia.

"We respect the independence and judgment of the Indonesian courts, but given the gravity of the charges on which he was convicted, we are disappointed at the length of the sentence," said U.S. Embassy spokesman Max Kwak. Seven Americans died in the Bali attack.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also wanted a longer sentence. "Eighty-eight of our people were killed in the Bali bombing and it's something we feel very passionately about. And those who were involved, however they were involved, should face justice," he said.

WASHINGTON - President Bush will work to smooth relations with America's neighbors to the north and south on March 23 when he meets with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in Texas.

Bush will hold working sessions with Fox and Martin at Baylor University in Waco, and host a lunch for them at his ranch in nearby Crawford, where he will be taking an Easter break.

When he took office, Martin promised to improve U.S.-Canada relations.

Bush made a recent goodwill visit to Ottawa. But last month, Canada announced it would opt out of a U.S.-led antiballistic missile shield program - a likely subject during this month's meeting.

The president's relations with Mexico also have been chilly because of differences over Bush's policy in Iraq and border issues.

Fox made migration reform in the United States a top foreign policy priority, but the issue slipped to Bush's back burner after the Sept. 11 attacks.

MULTAN, Pakistan - A Pakistani court Thursday overturned the conviction of a village elder and four other men who had been sentenced to death for allegedly ordering a woman gang-raped as punishment for her brother's illicit sex with a woman from another family, a defense lawyer said.

The rape of the woman in 2002 in a mud-brick house in a village in central Pakistan made world headlines and led the government to promise sweeping changes to end centuries of so-called "honor" killings and attacks.

Six men, including village council chief Faiz Mastoi, were later convicted and sentenced to death. But the court overturned the sentences Thursday, citing a lack of evidence. Mastoi and four others were ordered released and the sixth man's death sentence was reduced to life in prison, said Ramzan Joya, a lawyer for the woman.

The woman was in court and wept upon hearing the court's decision.

BAKU, Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan's top opposition leader on Thursday accused the government of ordering the slaying of a prominent magazine editor who had been in conflict with authorities, and he asked his supporters to take to the streets in protest.

Ali Kerimli, leader of the Popular Front party, urged opposition political parties and rights groups to turn the funeral for editor Elmar Huseinov into a massive government protest.

"The authorities were behind this murder," Kerimli said. "It's part of an attack on the freedom of speech."

Huseinov, founder and editor of the opposition magazine Monitor, was shot to death Wednesday in the entryway of his Baku apartment building - a hallmark of contract slayings in former Soviet states. Authorities say they are investigating.

[Last modified March 4, 2005, 00:31:15]