Jakarta, June 11: Indonesian prosecutors suffered another setback today in the trial of alleged terror chief Abu Bakar Bashir when four witnesses failed to link the radical cleric with last year's Bali bombings. Prosecutors had hoped the witnesses - three of whom are relatives or friends of Bali bombing suspects - would testify about Bashir's role in the Oct 12 blasts that killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.

The blasts have been blamed on the al-Qaida linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. Bashir is believed to be the group's spiritual head.

But the witnesses told the court they only knew Bashir from speeches he gave, including one at a graduation ceremony in 2000.

"If prosecutors are saying that I am friendly with Abu Bakar Bashir, I say I do not know him and I am not friendly with him," said Sumarno, the cousin of Bali bombing suspect Amrozi bin Nurhasyim.

The other witnesses claimed they knew Bashir from "newspapers and TV only."

Bashir is charged with treason, allegedly masterminding a series of church bombings in 2000 and attempting to destabilise the government. He is also charged with falsifying his identity card.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.

Mas Selamat Kastari, a Singaporean citizen who allegedly heads Jemaah Islamiyah's Singapore chapter, also testified that Bashir was not involved in the organisation's alleged plans to bomb Western targets in the city-state in 2001.

Bureau Report