JAKARTA, Jan. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A noted Muslim figure who leads Indonesia's second largest Muslim group said Thursday the trial against cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was politically motivated, accusing the US government of pushing for the trial.

    Syafi'i Maarif, leader of the 20-million strong Muhammadiyah, said that on March 28 last year then US ambassador to Indonesia Ralph Boyce came to him and asked for his support to keep Ba'asyirin jail.

    "In the personal meeting, Boyce asked me, as a public figure, to accept efforts that will keep Ba'asyir in jail until the general elections on April 5, 2004," said Maarif, who appeared at a makeshift courtroom in South Jakarta to testify for Ba'asyir.

    "If the Supreme Court released Ba'asyir, we must pay respect because we live in a sovereign country... I don't have to accept Boyce's request because I myself considered the case has been orchestrated," he told the court.

    He quoted Boyce as saying that Ba'asyir is a "dangerous man" and has links with the Jemaah Islamiyah, a shadowy regional terrorgroup widely blamed for a string of bombings in Southeast Asian countries.

    Ba'asyir, 65, is on trial on charges of inciting militants to carry out bombing in Bali in October 2002 and at the Marriott Hotel here in August 2003.

    The cleric has served his 1.5-year jail term for document forgery but he was re-arrested on the day he stepped out from the state prison in Jakarta after prosecutors claimed they have new evidence to charge the cleric with terrorism. Enditem