Ba'asyir is spiritual head of JI, say members

Ba'asyir is spiritual head of JI, say members

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Two Malaysian militants testifying in the trial of Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir acknowledged on Tuesday that the elderly cleric was the
spiritual leader of the regional terrorist group, Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI).

Malaysians Syamsul Bahri and Amran bin Mansur, who fled to
Indonesia in 2002 and 2003 respectively to avoid arrest by
the Malaysian police, also admitted that they were members of JI,
which the United Nations has declared a terrorist organization.

Ba'asyir is currently on trial for his alleged role in the
deadly Bali bombing in October 2002 and the J.W. Marriott Hotel
attack that killed 12 people in August 2003.

Bahri said he was told by Mukhlas, who was sentenced to death
for his role in the Bali bombings, that the white-haired cleric
assumed the JI leadership after founder Abdullah Sungkar died in
1999.

However, he said that he had never witnessed Ba'aysir acting
as the leader of the terrorist group, saying that he only met the
cleric on a number of occasions, including when Ba'aysir gave
religious sermons at Islamic boarding schools in Johor Bahru,
Malaysia.

"I have met Ba'aysir four times, three times in Malaysia in
1990, 1998 and 1999, and once in Pakistan in 1992," Bahri said.

Meanwhile, Amran, also known by his Indonesian name, Andi
Saputro, said that he had also heard that Ba'asyir took over the
JI leadership following the death of Abdullah Sungkar.

"I did hear people saying that Ba'aysir was selected to
replace Abdullah Sungkar as JI leader but some people also said
that it was Abu Rusdan, not Abu Bakar Ba'asyir," said Amran.

Both witnesses admitted that they had received military
training during their time as JI members from the mid-1990s to
the early 2000s.

"Mukhlas, who is my brother-in-law, offered me an opportunity
to go to Pakistan to learn more about Islam, and when I arrived
there I found that it was actually some sort of military training
that was involved," Bahri said.

He also said that he had been training to handle explosives in
Pakistan and later learned how to make detonators in Solo,
Central Java, after he fled to Indonesia in 2002.

Amran also admitted that he went to Camp Abubakar in the
southern Philippines to receive further military training for
around one month in 1998, and continued his training in Pakistan
before heading for Kabul, Afghanistan, where he stayed for four
months learning how to handle weapons.

Both witnesses said that they knew Azahari and Noordin Moch.
Top, believed to be the masterminds behind the Mariott bombing in
August last year.

"At first I did not believe that JI members were behind the
Bali and Marriott bombings because as far as I knew, our
teachings did not permit such things (bombings).

"However, I later learned that my fellow members Azahari and
Noordin were suspected by the police of taking part in the
Marriott bombing," Bahri said.

Ba'aysir has been in prison since shortly after the Bali
bombings. He was cleared of terror charges but convicted of
immigration violations during a 2003 trial. He was rearrested
after completing his sentence in April this year and has been
detained ever since.

A total of 77 witnesses are scheduled to testify during the
trial, including convicted Bali and Marriott bombers Imam
Samudra, Amrozi and Ali Gufron, and alleged JI members Wan Min
bin Wan Mat and Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana.