Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Amrozi	Amrozi	Jemaah Islamiyah	Southeast Asia	Indonesia	In Jug	20050806
		Sentenced to death for his part in the 2002 Bali bombings
Amrozi bin Nurhasyim	Amrozi bin Nurhasyim	Jemaah Islamiah	Southeast Asia			20030806
	Amrozi bin Nurhasyim	Jemaah Islamiyah	Southeast Asia			20031205

Southeast Asia

Bali bombmaker paroled; suicide bomber kills 1 in attack on police station

2022-12-08

[BenarNews] Indonesia on Wednesday released the Bali attacks bombmaker from prison at least seven years before he served out his full 20-year sentence. A justice ministry official confirmed that Umar Patek, who assembled the bombs used in the 2002 Bali Bombings — Indonesia’s worst ever terror attack — was freed on parole in the morning.

On the same day, a former terrorism convict apparently unhappy with Indonesia’s new criminal code went kaboom! at a cop shoppe in Bandung, killing an officer and wounding 10 other people, officials said.

The bomber had been released from prison last March after serving four years for a failed suicide kaboom in 2017 that was blamed on Jamaah Ansharut Daulah

...founded by our old friend Abu Bakar Bashir of Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah fame, JAD translates cleverly as Partisans of the Islamic State, but really only means (Wink! Wink!) ISIS in Indonesia...
(JAD), an Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
-linked bully boy group, police said.

Umar had been associated with another bully boy group, Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian affiliate of the al-Qaeda international terror network.

"Hisyam bin Alizein, alias Umar Patek, was released from the Surabaya Penitentiary under the parole program," said Rika Aprianti, spokesperson for the directorate general of corrections at the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

Rika said Umar had fulfilled conditions for parole, including having served two-thirds of his sentence and taking part in deradicalization programs as well as pledging allegiance to the state.

"The granting of parole was also recommended by the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) and the Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88)," Rika said in a statement, referring to the police’s elite anti-terrorism unit.

Umar has to now mandatorily join a "mentoring program" until April 2030, and his parole would be revoked if he violates it in any way, the statement said.

Umar was arrested in Pakistain in 2011 and tried in Indonesia. In 2012, instead of receiving the death penalty

, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Like other prisoners in Indonesia, Umar, too, had received a series of sentence cuts for good behavior to mark Indonesian holidays.

In August, Umar said in an interview with the prison chief that it was a "mistake" to be involved in the Oct. 12, 2002 twin bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. Indonesian authorities blamed the attack on Jemaah Islamiyah.

In 2008, Indonesian authorities executed Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas for their roles in the bombings.

Counterterrorism officials have touted Umar as a deradicalization success story, but the news in August that he would be paroled outraged people and officials in Australia.

BOMBING KILLS POLICE OFFICER
Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived...
several people on social media expressed their unhappiness about Umar’s early release.

"His release today at the same time as #BomBunuhDiri #Bandung [the suicide kaboom in Bandung] actually gives a negative signal to the public and will cheer up terrorist groups," @HastoSuprayogo said on Twitter.

Police said the jacket wallah forced his way into the Astana Anyar cop shoppe in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, and set off the bomb while officers were conducting a morning roll-call.

"He was stopped by several officers, but he brandished a knife and suddenly there was a kaboom," said provincial police chief Inspector General Suntana, who uses one name.

Fingerprint and facial recognition results confirmed that the perpetrator was Agus Sujatno, national police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo told news hounds. The 34-year-old bomber had not been successfully deradicalized, Listyo said.

Photos circulating online showed the bomber’s body parts strewn on the ground. An officer identified as Sofyan died in a hospital of his injuries.

Police seized a cycle of violence they said belonged to the bomber. The vehicle had an Islamic State logo and a piece of paper taped to the front of the vehicle that read "The Criminal Code, the law of polytheists/infidels. Wage war against Satanic law enforcers."

The attack came a day after the Indonesian parliament passed a broad new criminal code that, critics fear, would threaten civil liberties. Listyo said police also found pieces of paper at the scene scribbled with criticisms of the criminal code.

The national police have ordered stations across the country to tighten security and increase vigilance, front man Brigadier Gen. Ahmad Ramadhan said.

’WE CAN’T READ THEIR MINDS’
Nasir Abbas, a former bully boy who has worked with counter-terrorism police, said the attack was a sign that that JAD could still carry out attacks.

"This shows that the movement (JAD) still exists and is capable of getting people to carry out suicide kabooms. That’s the message," Nasir told BenarNews.

Nasir said the bomber’s supposed objection to the new criminal code was not surprising because JAD Death Eaters had always rejected Indonesian secular laws in favor of sharia.

Imron Rasyid, a security analyst at the Habibie Center think-tank, said the attack was timed with the controversy over the criminal code.

"They are taking advantage of the moment [to increase the impact of their action]," Imron told BenarNews.

Imron warned that JAD remained a major threat because the group had been recruiting while authorities were preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boy Rafli Amar, the head of the National Counter-terrorism Agency (BNPT), rejected suggestions that security authorities were caught off guard.

"Terrorists always look for opportunities to strike. We can’t read their minds," Boy said.

Indonesian authorities have blamed JAD for a series of attacks in Indonesia over the past six years.

These include gun and kabooms near a shopping center and a coffee shop in Central Jakarta in 2016, the first terror strike claimed by the Islamic State in Southeast Asia. The attack killed eight people including four bully boys.

JAD was also involved in suicide kabooms in 2018 in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, authorities said. Twenty-seven people died, including 13 suspects.

Link

Southeast Asia

Anger in Australia as Sentence Cut Means Jihadist Bali Bomber Could Be Free in Days

2022-08-22

[Breitbart] Australia’s leader said Friday that it’s upsetting Indonesia has further reduced the prison sentence of the bombmaker in the Bali terror attack that killed 202 people — which could free him within days if he’s granted parole.

The most recent reduction of Umar Patek’s sentence takes his total reductions to almost two years and means Patek could be released on parole ahead of the 20th anniversary of the bombings in October.

"This will cause further distress to Australians who were the families of victims of the Bali bombings," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Channel 9. "We lost 88 Australian lives in those bombings."

Indonesia often grants sentence reductions to prisoners on major holidays such as the nation’s Independence Day, which was Wednesday.

Patek received a 5-month reduction on Independence Day for good behavior and could walk free this month from Porong Prison in East Java province if he gets parole, said Zaeroji, who heads the provincial office for the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

Zaeroji, who goes by a single name, said Patek had the same rights as other inmates and had fulfilled legal requirements to get sentence reductions. "While in the prison, he behaved very well and he regrets his radical past which has harmed society and the country and he has also vowed to be a good citizen," Zaeroji said.

Patek was arrested in Pakistain in 2011 and tried in Indonesia, where he was convicted in 2012. He was originally sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

With his time served plus sentence reductions, he became eligible for parole on Aug. 14. The decision from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights in Jakarta is still pending, Zaeroji said. If refused parole, he could remain locked away
You have the right to remain silent...
until 2029.

Patek was one of several men implicated in the attack, which was widely blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian krazed killer group with ties to al-Qaeda. Most of those killed in the bombing on the resort island were foreign tourists.

Another conspirator, Ali Imron, was sentenced to life. Earlier this year, a third krazed killer, Aris Sumarsono, whose real name is Arif Sunarso but is better known as Zulkarnaen, was sentenced to 15 years following his capture in 2020 after 18 years on the run.

Bali bomber Umar Patek's release is being discussed. Here's what you need to know about that and his role in the attack

[MSN] Umar Patek — who was jailed for 20 years over his role in the 2002 Bali bombings — has been given a further five-month reduction to his sentence as part of Indonesia's Independence Day celebrations.

He was one of 16,659 prisoners in East Java who received a reduction in their prison terms.

Here's what we know.

Patek was accused of being the expert bombmaker for Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a South-East Asian terror network linked to Al Qaeda.

Evidence in his 2012 trial suggested former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden gave JI $30,000 to wage jihad and Patek might have met him in a Pakistani town, a claim Patek repeatedly denied.

He went into hiding after the bombings, being on the most-wanted terrorist list in several countries, with the US offering a $1 million bounty for his head.

Patek was eventually captured in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011 and extradited to Indonesia.

On top of his conviction over the Bali bombings, he was also found guilty of weapons and conspiracy charges over a terrorist training camp in Aceh in 2009, and for mixing explosives for a series of Christmas Eve attacks on churches in 2000.

WHY WAS HIS SENTENCE REDUCED?
Indonesian authorities say he's been deradicalised. Patek reportedly told Indonesian newspaper JawaPos he was committed to assisting the Indonesian government in deradicalisation programs.

"Because, so far, I think radicalism still exists," he said.

"It can exist anywhere, in any region or country. Because the roots are still there."

He said he had been active for the past eight years in deradicalisation programs organised by prisons, Indonesia's National Counter Terrorism Agency and other institutions.

In 2015, Major General Agus Surya Bakti — who led the Indonesia's deradicalisation efforts through its anti-terrorism agency — spoke of Patek's success in the program.

"It's an extraordinary thing," he said.

Zaeroji — the head of Ministry of Law and Human Rights' provincial office — said the deradicalisation program at the Surabaya prison where Patek was serving his sentence was considered successful.

"Now there are seven terrorism convicts in the Surabaya prison, and all of them have declared their loyalty to the Republic of Indonesia," said Zaeroji, who goes by a single name.

WHAT WAS PATEK'S ROLE IN THE BOMBING?
Bombs went off at the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar in Kuta about 11pm on October 12, 2002.

Patek made some of the bombs used in the attack, with local media calling him "Demolition Man" during his trial. He admitted mixing as much as 50 kilograms of the explosives and packing them into filing cabinets used to carry the bomb to the Sari Club.

During his trial, Patek downplayed his role in the terror plot and argued that he didn't know how the bombs would be used.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HIS SENTENCE?
Patek was convicted for premeditated murder. He was spared the death penalty because he cooperated with investigators and and apologised to the victims' families, eventually being sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The ABC understands he has been granted routine remissions in his sentence, which has brought his release date forward to 2029. Typically, with incremental reductions and good behaviour, prisoners can get parole after serving about two thirds of their sentence. He was due to become eligible for parole in January.

WHEN MIGHT HE WALK FREE?
There are reports he could be freed within days — but that's only if he is granted parole.

The ABC has been told that terrorists aren't usually eligible for parole.

And Indonesian authorities say no decision has been made on whether he will be released.

If he's not granted parole, he'll be in prison until 2029.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE ATTACK?
In 2008, Imam Samudra, Amrozi, and Mukhlas were executed for their roles in the attack.

Abu Bakar Bashir — who was found guilty of conspiracy over the Bali bombings — was released from prison after 26 months in 2006 after his sentence was shortened.

He was given a 15-year jail sentence in 2011 for supporting militant training camps, but was released last year.

As former military commander of JI, Aris Sumarsono — better known as Zulkarnaen — was accused of masterminding the attacks. In January, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison on a string to terror charges, but was unable to be tried in relation to the Bali bombings because the statue of limitations had expired.

Link

Southeast Asia

Bashir still giving orders from jail cell

2012-10-11

The radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, founder of the group behind the 2002 Bali bombings, is believed to still be giving orders to would-be terrorists from his jail cell.

Bashir was transferred from police headquarters in Jakarta last week to Batu Penitentiary on the island of Nusa Kambangan, dubbed the Alcatraz of Indonesia because of its extremely high level of security.

The prison island, off the southern coast of Central Java, was also where Bali bombers Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas were housed until their executions in 2008.

While police did not initially disclose the reasons behind the sudden decision to move Bashir, which came days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Bali bombings, it has emerged authorities are concerned that he has continued to be actively involved with terrorist groups even from behind bars.
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"The leading figure (for terrorism) is still the same," Indonesia's counter-terrorism agency chief Ansyaad Mbai has told AAP.

"Even though he's already in jail, he's still giving commands."

The 74-year-old founded Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the group responsible for the attacks in Bali, and remains the spiritual leader for Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), which was designated a terror organisation by the United States earlier this year.

Mbai has also warned that the new crop of violent jihadists now active in Indonesia is being driven by the same radical ideology that led to the 2002 bombings.

"It's no longer important what their name is. What's obvious is the new group and JI are linked ideologically," he said.

"Their ideological figures remain the same."

Bashir, who spent 26 months in prison over the Bali bombings before later being acquitted, was jailed again last year for helping set up a terrorist training camp in Aceh.

He was sentenced to 15 years after being found guilty of using JAT as a front to raise funds for the Aceh camp. The terror cell found training at the remote jungle base was believed to be planning attacks on Western targets.

The counter-terrorism chief also confirmed that a group of five men shot dead in Bali in March were part of a new military wing formed by JAT.

"JAT has several wings. The military wing is called Tim Hisbah," Mbai said.

"This group is also linked with the five people shot in Bali."

Terrorism analyst Noor Huda Ismail said more effort was needed to counter the radical ideology still flourishing in Indonesia, warning that failure to address the problem would almost certainly lead to a repeat of the attacks in Bali.

He said extremist elements in Indonesia were still regrouping after a successful campaign by authorities over the past 10 years.

"We arrested 600, we killed some of them," he told AAP.

"But eventually, those people will be released."

"What do we do with them? Can we hope that they will de-radicalise voluntarily? There needs to be a systematic effort."

Link

Southeast Asia

The confessions of a Bali bomber

2012-09-30

Meet Idris: Bali bomber, a senior member of the terrorist group that planned and then carried out the attack 10 years ago that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Ask him for an explanation of what he did and Idris comes up with the most lame of all possible answers: he was just following orders.

In his first interview with Australian media, the freed bomber says he would willingly wage jihad on Indonesian soil again, but only if he thought he was fighting in a "legitimate war zone" - including an armed inter-religious conflict on Indonesian soil.

He said, "If some time in the future I form the intention to do jihad, it is obvious that I'll go to war. If there is such a zone in Indonesia, of course I will go there."

It's clear he's mostly concerned about himself. What torments him is the question of whether or not he will go to heaven.

He said, "I have never felt glad, happy or gay about this affair. In my heart I keep hoping that what I did was right and that I will be rewarded. However, I'm always worried that it was wrong and that Allah will punish me."

Idris was 12 kilometers away on a motorcycle with fellow terrorist Ali Imron when he felt, as much as heard, the bomb go off. He recalled, "It's as if it came from underground."

As the subterranean rumble reached him, he did not spare a thought for any of the victims. His thoughts were only for himself. He said, "The feeling of fear dominated. [Ali Imron and I] went to a restaurant. There was rice in front of us. We couldn't finish it, not even a quarter of it. Even water tasted bitter No one talked. We heard the sirens, ambulance, we felt really afraid."

Idris can only speak now because he is a free man. He escaped conviction for the Bali bombing on a technical legal point when Indonesia's constitutional court ruled he could not be convicted under laws passed after the bombing took place.

He was sentenced to 10 years in jail for a different bombing - the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003 - which killed 12 people. But after remissions and parole he served just five years. He was released in 2009.

Now he lives with his family and looks after his sick mother, but complains he cannot find work because his past means no one will give him a job.

Idris attended Ngruki, Abu Bakar Bashir's school of jihad in Solo, but his learning did not lead to action until 2002. Then two of Indonesia's most important jihadis, Amrozi and Mukhlas, the top leader of Jemaah Islamiah in Asia, called him to a small house in Solo.

It was a meeting to plan a bomb attack on "America and its allies" in Bali - a place they saw as a center of infidel hedonism.

Idris became the manager of the project. He said, "My role was to provide logistics and to prepare various things, such as providing a house, car, surveying the target, and also preparing food. Basically anything my friends might need."

Idris says Mukhlas, who was executed in 2008, was the one who gave the orders. To Idris, everything he did can be explained by that fact.

He said, "I couldn't think about if [the attack] was justified or not justified. If the senior commander ordered us to do it, we had to."

What about conscience? Humanity? "I didn't think, I simply followed what Mukhlas said."

Idris does not feel bad about being released from jail. He said, "It is the state who created the law Whether it was fair or not I cannot say."

When I showed Idris pictures taken in 2002 of maimed and burnt bodies, of the destroyed buildings and the remains of the van that contained the bomb. I asked him how he feels and he paused for thought.

He said, "When I saw the pieces of bodies, I just thought something like, 'Wow,' or 'Oh my God', because I know there isn't any Islamic law about this,'' he says. ''It's like: 'Look how much damage I did'."

Link

Southeast Asia

Bali bomber begs for mercy

2012-06-01

Umar Patek is a tiny man, pixie-faced and slump-shouldered inside the white garment worn by devout Muslims. He said, "I'm a quiet person, shy, and low in education," just before his trial for terrorism and mass murder continued yesterday.

But this small man helped create the bombs that tore apart two Bali nightclubs 10 years ago and killed 202 people.

Patek has admitted mixing about 50 kilograms of chemicals to go into almost a ton of explosives used in the bombs.

Successfully mixing explosives that explode only on schedule is a rare ability, as the many reported work accidents over the years attest -- Mutual of Gaza has been paying out from reserves for ages, and Al Qaeda doesn't even offer insurance to the many MBAs who take their course.

But throughout the four months of his trial he has emphasised his unimportance. He told the court he was "a deer" among such "elephants" of the plot as the already executed Imam Samudra, Mukhlas and Amrozi.

No doubt. But their plotting would have been to no avail, absent the technical skills of little Patek.

But in his heart Patek knew what he had done. He said, "My conscience says I am guilty. I did mix [explosive] materials."

Despite this, his lawyers have maintained that he should be found not guilty of the bombings, and guilty only of forging passports.

The man is a commercial artist as well? Truly, he has more than most to be modest about.

They say he opposed the killing of innocents, voiced his opposition to the Bali plot and participated reluctantly. Thus he had "not deliberately" contributed.

It's awfully hard to accidentally mix up a bomb capable of killing several hundred people...

The death sentence is possible for these charges but prosecutors have asked for life in prison. Yesterday Patek made a plea for 10 years or less. He said, "[The explosives I mixed were] less than 50 kilograms. I am guilty for that but ... I believe the panel of judges must consider my motive ... my state of psychology. The panel of judges must consider my disagreement [with the tactics] and that it wasn't my call."

"They put something on my neck, your honour. It controlled me completely...and nobody could hear me scream."

Patek said he was originally lured into jihad in 1991 by Dulmatin (killed in a shootout with police in 2010), who took him to Malaysia as a young man to find work and study religion under radical teacher Mukhlas.

Twenty years later he has lost little of his fanaticism. He said, "My position about jihad remains the same. It is an obligation of every Muslim to carry out jihad."

Kill him. Kill him now.

However, holy war should only be waged against those "who attack Muslims". He said, "My question was, did the Balinese attack Muslims in Bali? Or did the bule [white foreigners] in Bali attack Muslims? Or were they Jews? I think the correct way is to go to Palestine and fight the Jews who slaughtered Palestinians."

Other hardcore beliefs continue. Patek said Abu Bakar Bashir, now serving a 15-year jail sentence for supporting a jihadi training camp in Aceh, was harmless. He said, "I think he only preaches. I think there's nothing wrong with preaching."

Patek has issued apologies to his victims and asked their families to forgive him.

No.

Asked what he could do in reparation, he said there was nothing except to say that "Islam is not a religion of violence".

Except for the jihad thingy, but surely that is a minor detail.

Link

Southeast Asia

FBI Agent Says 'Bali Bomber' was Explosives Expert

2012-04-20

[An Nahar] An FBI agent testifying in the trial of the suspected Bali bomb-maker said Thursday the accused had been identified as an explosives expert by other Islamic beturbanned goons and had planned to kill U.S. troops.

Indonesian prosecutors accuse Umar Patek, who was locked away last year in the same Pak town where U.S. commandos later killed al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden
... who was laid out deader than a mackerel...
, of constructing the bombs that killed 202 people, mostly Westerners.

Frank Pellegrino, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who interrogated many Islamic beturbanned goons following the 9/11 attacks in the United States, arrived in Bali shortly after the October 2002 nightclub bombings on the holiday island.

Pellegrino said he interrogated around 20 Islamic beturbanned goons, most from the al-Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), of which Patek is believed to be a key member and which was behind the Bali attacks.

"Many did know Mr. Patek and all described him -- especially after the time of Bali bombings -- as a leader, a bomb-maker, a well-known bomb-maker who knew how to mix chemicals and knew how to teach people how to mix chemicals," Pellegrino testified at the trial at the West Jakarta District Court.

Pellegrino was one of the FBI agents responsible for tracking self-confessed 9/11 criminal mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was caught by Pak authorities on March 1, 2003.

He said the FBI had already been looking into JI because of threats of an attack on the U.S. embassy in Singapore in 2001.

Patek's name was quickly known by the FBI after the Bali attacks, Pellegrino said.

"A very famous sketch was drawn of what he looked like," he told the court. "We realized pretty quickly it was Jemaah Islamiyah," he added.

Pellegrino said he had many discussions with Indonesian police following the Bali attacks about Patek's activities in Afghanistan, where the suspected bomb-maker is known to have trained.

"He continued being a terrorist, he continued making bombs and was planning to attack U.S. troops in the Philippines," he testified.

Patek, 45, went on trial in February, charged with murder, bomb-making and illegal firearms possession. Prosecutors say they will push for the death penalty.

Three JI members -- ringleader Imam Samudra and the brothers Mukhlas and Amrozi -- were executed by firing squad in November 2008 for their roles in the Bali bombings.

According to the indictment, Patek was involved in assembling the bombs for the attacks and also strikes on churches in Jakarta on Christmas Eve 2000.

Link

Southeast Asia

Inside the making of the Bali bombs

2012-02-12

Long look at the bomb-builder of the Bali terrorist attack. Worth noting the connections to Abbottabad and his proximity to bin Laden for a time.

JAKARTA, Indonesia: An Indonesian militant charged in the 2002 Bali terrorist attacks told interrogators he spent weeks holed up in a rented house, painstakingly building a half-ton bomb using household items including a rice ladle, a grocer's scale and plastic bags.

A transcript of the Umar Patek's interrogation obtained by The Associated Press offers extraordinary detail of the Bali plot just days before Patek -- a radical once Southeast Asia's most-wanted bomb-making suspect -- goes on trial in Jakarta for his alleged role in the nightclub attack that killed 202 people.

Patek, known as "Demolition Man" for his expertise with explosives, says he and other conspirators stashed the 1,540-pound (700-kilogram) bomb in four filing cabinets, loaded them in a Mitsubishi L300 van along with a TNT vest bomb. The van was detonated outside two nightclubs on Bali's famous Kuta beach on Oct. 12, 2002. Most of those killed were foreign tourists.

Although homemade bombs are easily assembled by militants all over the world, making such powerful devices as those used in Bali -- and using such unsophisticated equipment -- would have taken enormous amount of care and expertise.

Patek, 45, goes on trial Monday following a nine-year flight from justice that took him from Indonesia to the Philippines to Pakistan, reportedly in pursuit of more terrorism opportunities. He was finally caught in January 2011 in the same Pakistani town where US Navy Seals would kill Osama Bin Laden just a few months later.

Boy howdy, what a coincidence. Wonder if he and Binny shared the community pool?

Patek was hiding out in a second-floor room of a house in Abbottabad, a $1 million bounty on his head, when Pakistani security forces, acting on a tip from the CIA, burst in. After a firefight that left Patek wounded, he was captured and extradited to Indonesia.

Should have been extradited to Diego Garcia...

His capture was seen as a yardstick of the successes that Asian security forces, with US help, have achieved against Jemaah Islamiyah, the Al-Qaeda-linked regional terror group blamed for the Bali bombings and several other attacks in Indonesia. All its other leaders have been executed, killed by security forces, or are on death row.

Patek is charged with premeditated murder, hiding information about terrorism, illegal possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit terrorism, and now faces a possible death sentence as well. The indictment also accuses Patek of providing explosives for a string of Christmas Eve attacks on churches in 2000 that claimed 19 lives.

Interviews with intelligence officials in Indonesia and the Philippines, the interrogation report and other documents obtained by the AP reveal the peripatetic life Patek led after the Bali attacks as he ranged widely and freely, often without passing through immigration checks, while allegedly passing along his bomb-making skills to other terrorists.

Patek, whose real name is Hisyam bin Alizein, is the son of a goat meat trader. He went to computer school and learned English before being recruited into Jemaah Islamiyah by Dulmatin, a fellow militant who was gunned down by Indonesian police in March 2010.

After his arrest, Patek told his interrogators that he learned to make bombs during a 1991-1994 stint at a militant academy in Pakistan's Sadda province, and later in Turkhom, Afghanistan, where bomb-making courses ranged "from basic to very difficult."

He said he was living in Solo, Indonesia, when mastermind Imam Samudra approached him to make a bomb in Bali. He agreed and flew to Denpasar, Bali's capital, and was taken to a rented house.

"In one room of the house, I began to mix the explosive ingredients, which were already in the rental house," he said. "For about three weeks, I made the explosive ingredients into black powder with the assistance of Sawad (a co-conspirator). For tools used in the mixing of the ingredients, I used (a) scale that will usually be used in a food store, rice ladle and plastic bags as containers."

Dulmatin separately worked on the electronic circuits, which were later attached as detonators to the bombs packed into the filing cabinets.

"When we were lifting the filing cabinets into the white L300 van, an explosion occurred which was caused by friction of the filing cabinet with the floor of the room, because the floor still had some leftover black powder on it," he said.

Patek left Bali a few days before the attacks were carried out.

Afterward, officials said, Patek and Dulmatin went to the Philippines and allegedly joined forces with the local extremist group Abu Sayyaf, spending the next several years training militants and plotting attacks, including against US troops in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Imam Samudra and two other masterminds of the Bali attacks -- brothers Amrozi%20Nurhasyim>Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron -- were caught, tried and executed.

Patek returned to Indonesia in June 2009, living in various rented houses in Jakarta. He held several meetings with radicals and aspiring militants at home and held assault rifle and bomb-making training sessions at a beach in Banten near Jakarta.

But Patek's heart was set on going to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taleban or other extremist groups, said Ansyaad Mbai, Indonesia's anti-terrorism chief. He told the AP that Patek intended to continue his fight in a more defined battleground with a larger radical group, and refused Dulmatin's offer to become an instructor in a new militant camp in Indonesia's Aceh province.

"He wanted to fight with a larger extremist group, and Afghanistan was the ideal battleground for him," Mbai said.

But to reach Afghanistan, he would have to go to Pakistan first. A police investigator said that a 37-year-old Pakistani in Indonesia, Nadeem Akhtar, helped Patek get a Pakistani visa from his embassy in Jakarta.

Why not just print up a fresh one?

After Patek arrived in Lahore, a courier with links to Al-Qaeda then brought him to Abbottabad, possibly to meet with Bin Laden.

Mbai did not rule out the possibility that Patek went to Abbottabad to not only gain a foothold into Afghanistan but also to obtain funds for setting up a militant training camp in Jolo in southern Philippines. But before he could make much progress or meet Bin Laden, he was caught.

Patek's trial not only seeks justice for the Bali bombings, but also is a coup for intelligence officials. He is believed to have valuable information about Al-Qaeda and its links with Jemaah Islamiyah, which was founded by Indonesian exiles in Malaysia in the early 1990s.

The Bali bombing remains JI's most spectacular attack. Though there have been several others since, but none as deadly. Analysts credit a crackdown that has netted more than 700 militants since 2000, including the death of several key leaders in police action.

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Southeast Asia

Indonesian court slashes Bashir's sentence

2011-10-28

In a potentially consequential blow to Indonesia's counter-terrorism efforts, Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has had his sentence cut by six years on appeal. The 73-year-old's trial, for funding and planning a ~~terrorist~~ militant training camp in Aceh, ended in June with him a 15 year jail sentence, which would have been likely to have put Bashir away for the rest of his life.

It was the biggest prosecution by the Indonesian state against an Islamic terrorist since the executions three years ago of 2002 Bali bombers Imam Samudra, Amrozi Nurhasyim and Huda bin Abdul Haq (Mukhlas).

However, the Jakarta High Court has reduced Bashir's sentence on appeal to nine years, which could see Bashir, also tried but ultimately acquitted of conspiring in the 2002 bombings, freed by the end of 2017.

It is up to state prosecutors, who had wanted a life sentence for Bashir on the Aceh charges, to appeal to the Supreme Court. However, there was no word from authorities by last night.

The sentence reduction, as is often the case in Indonesia, was decided without any announcement or even notification to Bashir's lawyers. It was confirmed by a court spokesman yesterday: "The chief judge verbally confirmed that Bashir's sentence has been reduced to nine years," official Ahmad Sobari said.

The decision was apparently taken last Thursday. Bashir lawyer, Ahmad Richdan, said,"We lawyers haven't received any court decision, so we cannot comment yet. They should tell the lawyers first . . . it's a pity that we learn from the media - I tried to confirm the news today but nobody was picking up the phone."

The lawyer confirmed that Bashir's team would continue to try to have Bashir's convictions overturned completely and the cleric freed.

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Southeast Asia

Abu Bakar Bashir's son al-Qa'ida's propaganda man

2010-06-04

Hardline Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir had a direct line to al-Qa'ida around the time of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the US because his son was working in the organisation's propaganda department. The revelation was made by the chief of Indonesia's counter-terrorism taskforce, an outfit known as Detachment 88, as expectations mounted that Bashir could soon be arrested over a terror cell uncovered this year in Aceh province.

Bashir's youngest son, Abdul Rohim, was already known to have spent several years in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the late 1990s engaging in jihad-related activities.

Bashir was closely linked to the 2002 Bali bombings, including a conviction for criminal conspiracy, although that was later overturned on constitutional grounds. Rohim is part of his father's operation at the al-Mukmin school in Solo, Central Java, where Bali bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Ali Imron were students.

Brigadier General Tito Karnavian, the head of Detachment 88, has revealed that Rohim, now aged in his early 30s, had lived with September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and was an active member of al-Qa'ida around the time of the US attacks. "Abdul Rohim is a real part of al-Qa'ida because he was staying with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Kandahar, being staff of media, of propaganda, of al-Qa'ida," the anti-terror chief said.

While Rohim's role as a point man between al-Qa'ida and Southeast Asian-based terror groups such as his father's Jemaah Islamiah has been established, the revelation that he was working directly for Osama bin Laden's group as a propagandist is new. It comes as police interrogate members of Bashir's current organisation. Jemaah Anshorut Tawhid, over the preacher's alleged involvement in the recent Aceh terror plot.

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Southeast Asia

Bali bomb mastermind to walk free

2009-08-29

HAMBALI, the terrorist mastermind believed to be behind the Bali bombings, is set to escape justice for his role in the 2002 attacks that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Senior US officials have told The Weekend Australian that military prosecutors lack the evidence to charge the Indonesian terror suspect Hambali over the bombings of the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar on October 12, 2002.

The paper says the news will come as a blow to relatives of those who perished in the deadliest terrorist attacks ever perpetrated against Australians. It follows the execution in Indonesia last year of the three bombers, Imam Samudra and brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas.

While authorities are confident they can tie Hambali to other terrorist attacks across the archipelago - ensuring he is almost certain to remain in custody - US officials say it is unlikely the 45-year-old will be charged over his role in the Bali bombings.

Despite the lack of evidence, there is a near universal consensus among experts, intelligence analysts and government officials that Hambali was involved in the twin blasts in the Kuta tourist strip.

Hambali, whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, was arrested in 2003 in Thailand as part of a US-led operation. As al-Qaeda's chief of operations in South-East Asia, he is implicated in a string of attacks across Indonesia.

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Southeast Asia

Yudhoyono refuses to pardon Bali bombing convict

2009-03-21

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has refused to pardon Ali Imron, who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 2002 Bali bombing. "His request has been denied. We have received the [presidential] decision letter," Denpasar District Prosecutor's Office head Ida Bagus Siwananda said.

Ali Imron was sentenced to life imprisonment last month for his role in the nightclub blasts that killed 202 people (mostly foreign holidaymakers) on Oct. 12, 2002. The sentence was lighter than that handed down to two of his brothers, Amrozi and Ali Gufron, who were executed along with Imam Samudra on Nov. 9 last year. Ali Imron has been cooperative during police investigations into the bombing and terrorist networks in Indonesia. He is now detained at Kerobokan Penitentiary in Denpasar.

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Southeast Asia

Bali bombers may testify against Hambali

2009-03-10

Two convicted members of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network said on Monday that they were ready to testify in court against Indonesian-born Al Qaeda terrorist suspect Riduan Hambali Isamuddin if he was returned to Indonesian custody after the United States closed its Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.

In an exclusive jailhouse interview, Ali Imron and Mubarok, both serving life sentences for their roles in the 2000 Christmas Eve and 2002 Bali bombings, told the Jakarta Globe that Hambali had financed and organized the simultaneous bombings of Christian churches and homes in six provinces, killing 18 people. Hambalis role in the Christmas Eve terror was to trigger our desire to wage jihad against nonbelievers, Imron said from his jail cell at the Jakarta Regional Police headquarters. He was the mastermind of the church bombings, he said.

Imron, who escaped a firing squad last year by expressing remorse for his actions, and Mubarok are cooperating with National Police investigators, who are preparing a dossier of charges against Hambali in the hopes that he will be returned to Indonesia after Guantanamo Bay is closed. However, in a clear disagreement, senior government officials have been reported to have privately asked the United States to continue detaining Hambali, citing widespread consensus within the security, military and law enforcement communities that his return home would be an unwanted distraction and could rejuvenate his terrorist network, popularly known as JI. In addition, a senior national security official said there may not be enough evidence to convict Hambali of any domestic terrorist activities in an Indonesian court.

Imron and Mubarok told the Jakarta Globe that they had met Hambali and Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, who was executed in November for his role in the first Bali bombings, in a hotel in Surabaya, East Java Province, just a few weeks before the Dec. 24, 2000, bombings. They said Hambali outlined what would be extremely well-coordinated attacks on targets in 11 cities, saying: Its the proper time to take revenge by bombing churches.

Me, Amrozi and Mubarok spent the night in Hambalis hotel room and early in the morning we, including Hambali, went to Mojokerto to survey churches, Mubarok said, referring to the city located 50 kilometers from Surabaya. He said bombs were later planted at the Eben Haezer, Santo Yoesoef and Allah Baik churches in Mojokerto, which killed two people and wounded six others. Mubarok said Hambali left Surabaya before the attacks were carried out and may have been in Malaysia when the bombs went off.

However, Imron and Mubarok said they had no information about whether Hambali was involved in the 2002 Bali bombings, despite claims by US intelligence officials that he, as JIs operations chief, had masterminded them. I think he didnt know anything about planning and carrying out the Bali bombings, Mubarok said.

Government and private terrorism analysts have said the best case for prosecuting Hambali here would be for murder charges over the Christmas Eve bombings, which occurred in the North Sumatra provincial capital of Medan, and the provinces of Batam, Riau, West Java, Jakarta, East Java and West Nusa Tenggara. They said the case would rest on testimony from Imron and Mubarok, because Hambali couldnt be prosecuted retroactively under the 2002 terrorism law, and no forensic evidence linked him to other plots.

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