An Indonesian convicted terrorist told a court hearing Thursday in Jakarta that Osama bin Laden had invited Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir to stay in Afghanistan if the cleric felt uncomfortable in Indonesia.

The message was brought by Hambali, another Indonesian militant who is now in US custody, said Muhammad Rais.

Rais, who has been sentenced to seven years in jail for role in the Marriott Hotel bombing here last August, was present at a makeshift courtroom in the Ministry of Agriculture compound here to testify in the terror trial against Ba'asyir.

In a meeting in Pakistan in 2001, Hambali told Rais to forward bin Laden's message to Ba'asyir.

Later in the year, Rais met with Ba'asyir at the cleric's Islamic boarding school in the Central Java town of Surakarta to tell him bin Laden's message, he said.

"I told Ba'asyir that Hambali got a message from Osama bin Laden offering Ba'asyir to move to Afghanistan if he no longer found it comfortable to stay in Indonesia," said Rais.

"Abu Bakar Ba'asyir responded by saying "insya Allah" (God willing)," he said.

But Rais said the Marriott bombing was not plotted by Ba'asyir.

He said the attack was to follow bin Laden's call for fight against the United States.

The bombing, which killed 12 people including the bomber, was masterminded by Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohd Top who remained at large so far, he said.