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.