Abu Rusdan admits chairing JI

Abu Rusdan admits chairing JI

JAKARTA: Defendant Abu Rusdan admitted on Wednesday he was the
caretaker head of the regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah
(JI), but said his aim was to dissuade members from violence.

Rusdan, on trial for harboring Mukhlas, one of key suspects of
the deadly Bali bombings, said in his defense plea that he was
asked to become the caretaker emir, or leader.

He said he initially refused to become the emir because since
JI founder Abdullah Sungkar died in 1999 "I was not kept abreast
with developments of the community."

He said he changed his mind after a meeting with Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir, at which the cleric stressed the need for sincerity in
religious duties.

Ba'asyir was jailed for four years in September for taking
part in a plan to overthrow the government, but judges said there
was not enough evidence to prove that he was the head of JI.

At the meeting on Oct. 17 last year, Rusdan said, he
"reluctantly" accepted the caretaker leadership.

He said the position would allow him "to more effectively
remind members of the community not to be dragged into violent
acts which have recently been linked to members of the
community."

Rusdan, 43, said Mukhlas was at that meeting "but at the time
I did not know or suspect that he was involved in the Bali
bombings" that killed more than 200 people, mostly foreigners.

He said he had not heard a remark attributed by prosecutors to
Mukhlas -- that "the perpetrators of the Bali bombings were us."

Prosecutors say Rusdan first met Mukhlas in Afghanistan in
1987 when both were fighting the Soviet occupation.

Defense lawyers called for the charges to be dropped, saying
the South Jakarta court had no jurisdiction over offenses
elsewhere. They described the charges as vague.

The trial was adjourned until Nov. 10, when prosecutors will
respond. --AFP