JAKARTA - AN Indonesian court ruled Thursday that it will proceed with the trial of 10 suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional militant group charged with terrorism offences.
Judge Haswandi said the trial, which opened earlier this month only to be suspended within minutes over objections from the defence, would go ahead.
'We rejected all the defendants' lawyers' objections and decided to continue the hearing,' the judge told the South Jakarta district court.
Defence lawyers had argued that the men, including Mohammad Hasan bin Saynudin, 35, a Singaporean who received Al-Qaeda training and met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, should not have been charged under anti-terror laws.
But Mr Haswandi said there was sufficient evidence of the group's intentions and links to Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for deadly attacks across Southeast Asia including the 2002 Bali bombings, to justify the terrorism charges.
The suspects were arrested in Palembang, South Sumatra in late June and early July last year and allegedly have links to some of the region's most wanted terrorists.
At the time of their arrests, police said they found 20 improvised bombs and a safe house in Palembang.
The cell is accused of planning to bomb a backpacker cafe in the tourist town of Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, and kill two Christian priests in Jakarta in August 2006.
They also allegedly attacked Christian priest Yosua Winardi with a hammer in the same year and murdered Christian teacher Dago Simamora in June 2007.
They are also accused of planning attacks against Chinese gold shop owners in South Sumatra.
