Indonesian cleric wins appeal

Ba'asyir was acquitted of leading the militant Jemaah Islamiah

An Indonesian appeals court has cleared the radical Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, of subversion.

But the court upheld his conviction on lesser charges of forging identity documents, and reduced his sentence from four to three years.

Ba'asyir said he would now appeal to Indonesia's supreme court.

He was found guilty of subversion in September, but acquitted of the more serious charge of leading a treasonous plot against the government.

The decision to reduce the sentence and reverse the subversion conviction was made last month by the Jakarta High Court, but only revealed on Monday.

A court official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press news agency that the court cleared Ba'asyir because there was not enough evidence to support the charges.

Ba'asyir's defence lawyer, Achmad Michdan, said that he was still not satisfied with the demand and wanted all charges, including the forging of the documents, dropped.

"There is political pressure from America, Australia and Singapore... the law has proved that Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is innocent," he said.

Ba'asyir was convicted in September of subversion, after the court said he was involved in a plot to overthrow the Indonesian government.

But he was cleared of charges that he was the mastermind of the plot, or the leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a South East Asian group which some governments allege is linked to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda.

His acquittal on that charge was criticised by some foreign governments, who believe that Ba'asyir is or was the spiritual head of JI.

The group has been blamed for last year's Bali bombing, which killed 202 people, and the bombing of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people in August this year.