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Indonesia braces for Bashir verdict

JAKARTA — Indonesia was on high alert Thursday as a court prepared to announce a verdict on terrorism charges against firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, a spiritual leader of regional Islamist militancy.

More than 3,000 police and soldiers backed by armoured vehicles and snipers guarded the South Jakarta district court as the closely watched trial reached its conclusion.

Hundreds of radical supporters of the 72-year-old preacher packed the courtroom and stood vigil outside, where they held prayers and vowed to avenge their leader if he is convicted of funding a terrorist organisation.

Draped in his customary white robes and skull-cap, Bashir told reporters in his holding cell before the trial resumed that the democratically elected leaders of Indonesia were "at war with Islam".

The man who allegedly inspired young radicals to launch the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, mainly Western tourists, also repeated claims that he was being framed by Australia and the United States.

"They want me to disappear from Indonesia. And they want a verdict so that I will no longer be with the community -- if possible for me to be killed," he said.

"The benefit to them? To kill Islam, to kill defenders of Islam, arrested and killed without reason."

Bashir is accused of providing funding of more than $62,000 to a terrorist group dubbed Al-Qaeda in Aceh that was plotting attacks in Indonesia. Prosecutors have sought a maximum life sentence.

Prosecutors earlier dropped charges that he had provided illegal weapons to the group, for which he could have faced the death penalty.

Police on Wednesday tightened security at shopping centres across the sprawling city and deployed extra personnel following threats warning of "bomb blasts in a number of places".

Authorities were taking special precautions after phone text messages threatening terror attacks circulated in the mainly Muslim country, Jakarta police chief Sutarman said.

"There are many such text phone messages circulating, with some containing serious (threats). We won't play down such threats," he told reporters.

Court spokesman Ida Bagus Dwiyantara said judges who handled Bashir's case had also received the text messages warning of multiple bomb blasts.

"Police will provide special security to the judges," Dwiyantara said.

Indonesia has been rocked by a series of attacks staged by regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah and its offshoots in recent years, including bombings of tourist spots on Bali, the Australian embassy and luxury Jakarta hotels.

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