Muslims rally to support Bashir

ABOUT 3,000 Muslim militants rallied yesterday in the city of Solo to support detained Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who allegedly heads the al-Qaida-linked group accused in the deadly bombing at Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel.

The rally came as the death toll from the bombing rose to 11 yesterday with the death of a taxi driver injured in the blast.

Bashir, in a speech read by an aide, urged people at the rally to fight for the adoption of Islamic law and to ignore being labelled "terrorists".

Listeners had travelled from all over Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Bashir, 64, is believed to be the founder of the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah. The group is being blamed for various attacks, including last Tuesday's hotel blast and the October 12 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

Yesterday's rally was the first public display of solidarity with Bashir since the Marriott attack.

Bashir's speech demanded Islamic law in Indonesia, which has been a secular republic since its independence from the Netherlands in 1949.

"Muslim people, do not be afraid of being called a terrorist or a fundamentalist," the speech said.

Listeners shouted "God is great!" Other speakers appealed for Bashir's release.

"Let us defend him and pray that he is being patient in prison," Irfan Awwas told the crowd in a stadium parking lot in Solo, about 370 miles east of Jakarta.

Bashir founded and ran an extremist Islamic boarding school in the city with help from the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia or the Indonesian Jihad Fighters' Council. Bashir is accused of masterminding a series of Indonesian church bombings in 2000 and an alleged plot to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri. He has denied involvement in terrorist acts and says Jemaah Islamiyah doesn't exist.