Jakarta, Apr 23: The alleged spiritual leader of an al-Qaida-linked terrorist group went on trial for treason today in a case that could test Indonesia's justice system and its commitment to fighting Islamic extremism. With security tight and courtroom packed with his supporters, a smiling and relaxed Abu Bakar Bashir strode in wearing flowing white robes. He waved at his supporters as they lifted their hands in unison and shouted ``Allahu Akbar'' - "God is great.'' The hearing's opening was broadcast live on national television and the trail is expected to last months. Bashir sat passively as prosecutors read out a 25-page indictment detailing charges that he authorised a near-simultaneous string of church bombings in 11 towns and cities on Christmas eve 2000 that killed 19 people.

The 64-year-old cleric is accused of trying to use the bombings to destabilize world's most populous Muslim nation, topple its secular government and establish a fundamentalist Islamic state that would span much of Southeast Asia.

Prosecutors say Bashir founded the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah and secretly recruited, trained and deployed militants in sever al countries.

Outside the courtroom, a couple hundred supporters many students from Bashir's Islamic boarding school in solo called on authorities to release him.

Jemaah Islamiyah, which Western intelligence services say has ties with the al-Qaida terror network, is being blamed for the Oct 12, 2002 bombings that killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists, on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.

Bureau Report