NationStates Jolt Archive

How nice. Says he is going back to "teaching". Yay Indonesia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5075908.stm
Bali bomb cleric set to be freed
By Rachel Harvey
BBC News, Jakarta

A Muslim cleric convicted over the 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali is due to be released from prison on Wednesday.

Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was found guilty in March 2005 of conspiracy in connection with the bomb plot, but he was cleared of more serious charges.

Security experts say the cleric is a founding member of a regional Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

His supporters are set to welcome him outside the prison when he walks free.

Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was first arrested shortly after the Bali night club bombings in October 2002.

He has been in custody ever since, facing two separate trials and serving two separate sentences, the first for minor immigration offences, the second for being part of what the court called an "evil conspiracy".

In both cases more serious charges were either dropped or later overturned on appeal.

Back to teaching

Indonesian and foreign intelligence agencies believe Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was, and perhaps still is, the leader of radical network Jl.

Members of the group are accused of being behind a number of operations in Indonesia, including two suicide attacks in Jakarta and the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings.

But most of these attacks took place while Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was in prison and he denies JI even exists.

He claims he was the victim on an American-inspired plot to undermine Islam.

Once released, the 68-year-old cleric, known for his fiery anti-Western rhetoric, says he plans to return to the boarding-school he founded and to continue teaching.

Profiile

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2339693.stm
Born in 1938, in East Java, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir has spent decades teaching Islam, and become influential among radical Muslims in South East Asia.

His consistent theme has been that Islamic communities are the necessary pre-condition for setting up an Islamic state.

In addition to running the Solo Muslim school in Java, he also sat on the executive of the Mujahideen Council, which was formed in Yogyakarta in 2000 as an umbrella group for people wanting to turn Indonesia into an Islamic country.

He has also called for Indonesia to declare a strict Sharia state.

..
I support Osama Bin Laden's struggle because his is the true struggle to uphold Islam, not terror - the terrorists are America and Israel
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, October 2002

Meh, if they couldn't make any serious charges stick, it's the right thing to do.

Oh, man...

You could keep him under a virtual house arrest in a place like Indonesia.

Put him under 24/7 surveillance. Forever.

He has started "teaching" as he promised.

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19480300%255E912,00.html
Convert to Islam, Bashir tells PM
ROB TAYLOR
16jun06

ABU Bakar Bashir has a blunt message for Prime Minister John Howard: Become a Muslim or burn in hell.

The radical cleric, freed from a Jakarta jail, yesterday also declined to condemn militants who set off deadly bombs in Bali in 2002.

He said they were right to defend Islam but misguided to resort to violence in Indonesia. He said those killed in the bombings had been destined by God to die. The families they left behind should convert to Islam.

"For the the Bali bomb families, those who are non-Muslims, my suggestion is just convert to Islam so they can be saved and find some peace from Allah," he said at his home inside his Ngruki Islamic boarding school near Solo, in central Java.

"If John Howard wants to be safe and avoid going to hell, I suggest he convert to Islam," said the man accused of being the inspiration for a string of terrorist atrocities.

Mr Howard said he sent a strongly-worded letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressing Australia's "distress" over the release of Bashir.

The letter urged the Indonesian Government to monitor Bashir because of his links to the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202, including 88 Australians.

The United Nations has cancelled a contract with an Indonesian organisation to deliver earthquake aid because it is chaired by Bashir. - AAP

Yeah, he's a funny guy that one.

They couldn't get the evidence on him, so they couldn't convict him. That's that.

House arrest might be a good idea, but he's under 24/7 surveillance by the Indonesian secret police anyways. If he ever does anything wrong again - swoosh, he's back to jail. Indonesia doesn't take kindly to dissidents.

Yeah, he's a funny guy that one.

They couldn't get the evidence on him, so they couldn't convict him. That's that.

House arrest might be a good idea, but he's under 24/7 surveillance by the Indonesian secret police anyways. If he ever does anything wrong again - swoosh, he's back to jail. Indonesia doesn't take kindly to dissidents.
In Indonesia, the government rebels against you!

If he ever does anything wrong again - swoosh, he's back to jail. Indonesia doesn't take kindly to dissidents.legally speaking, he comited no crime (innocent until proven guilty), so why the "again"

saying "I-like-Osama" or "Go-Osama-Go" is not a crime.. is it?

legally speaking, he comited no crime (innocent until proven guilty), so why the "again"
Legally speaking, he was convicted of conspiracy against the government. What they could not prove was that he had anything to do with the Bali Bombing.
He wasn't in jail for two years for no reason, you know.