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Recent Appearances...

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.

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Southeast Asia

Bali bomb builder will retrace his steps

2011-10-19

Terror suspect Umar Patek will return today to the sites in Bali where the bombs he made nine years ago killed more than 200 people. Patek, held in Jakarta since his extradition from Pakistan in August, has admitted to having built the bombs.

He will re-enact for police what he did during the final hours before the series of bombs were detonated on the night of October 12, 2002. As part of that re-enactment, he will be taken to the site where the Sari Club once stood. The nightclub was flattened when a car bomb was set off by a suicide bomber just outside.

He will show police where and how he and his co-conspirators finished the explosive devices used for the attacks, as investigators look to build up a case against him.

Patek arrived in Bali amid tight security yesterday, along with others already convicted in the 2002 attacks. Yesterday, a police spokesman said, "One of the locations he will be taken to tomorrow is ground zero."

Patek's arrival in Bali comes after he claimed that he had attempted to stop the nightclub attacks from going ahead. In comments published by the Jakarta Globe, Patek claimed he warned Bali bomb co-ordinator Imam Samudra to cancel the attack in favor of the jihad in Pakistan.

He told the newspaper, "I only advised him, but the planning for the Bali bombing was almost done and could not possibly be cancelled.

"I wanted to live and wage jihad in Afghanistan. It is a jihad area because Muslims have indisputably been colonised by America and NATO."

Investigators have cast doubt on these comments and contend that Patek was a central figure in the attack. Authorities have previously admitted their chances of pursuing a terrorism case against Patek are limited because the tough anti-terrorism laws introduced in Indonesia in 2003 cannot be applied retrospectively.

It is more likely he will be charged with premeditated murder and possession of explosives, as well as a number of other relatively minor offenses. The murder charges will probably extend to a series of bombings of churches in Indonesian cities on Christmas Eve in 2000.

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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

BALI BOMBERS EXECUTED

2008-11-08

More details sorta ...

* hot just after midnight local time
* Confirmed dead, family with bodies
* Timeline: Bombings to executions

THREE Bali bombers have been executed on an Indonesian island for their lead roles in the 2002 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

The family of Mukhlas and his younger brother Amrozi said the bombers had been executed along with Imam Samudra just after midnight local time (4am AEDT) on Nusakambangan Island, in Central Java, where they had been jailed. "Our family has received news of the execution ... May our brothers, God willing, be invited by green birds to heaven now," Mohammad Chozin, a brother of Mukhlas and Amrozi, said in their home village of Tenggulun.

"We're now handling the preparations to bring the bodies back, which may take two hours," he said outside an Islamic boarding school in the east Java village, as supporters shouted "Allahu Akbar".

Indonesia's Attorney General's Office later confirmed the executions had taken place. "At 12.15am, the convicts ... were executed by shooting and followed up with an autopsy," spokesman Jasman Pandjaitan said. "They have been stated as dead. At this moment the bodies are being washed by the family."

The bombers were simultaneously shot through the heart by crack Indonesian troops assembled to carry out the task. They were executed in an orchard some 6km from their prison on Nusakambangan Island, Indonesia's TV One reported.

A source at the prison said they shouted "Allahu Akbar" as they were escorted out of their isolation cells by paramilitary police shortly before their executions.

Australians expressed relief that the men were finally dead, six years after they brought carnage to Bali by sending suicide bombers to attack the Sari Club and nearby Paddy's Bar on October 12, 2002.

"... we've waited a very long time for this and this is our justice," Sydney woman Maria Kotronakis, who lost two sisters and two cousins, told CNN, struggling at times to speak. "Finally the moment has come ... we are over the moon."

Survivor Peter Hughes, of Perth, who suffered horrific burns in the bombings, said the three militants had paid the highest price for mass murder, but their executions did not bring him any joy. "These guys went to set about mass murder and paid the highest penalty," he told CNN. "It doesn't feel good but they did do the crime and they've paid for it."

The bombers' bodies will soon be flown by helicopter to their home villages for burial within 24 hours, in accordance with Muslim custom.

In Tenggulun, sobbing mourners are converging on the home of Amrozi and Mukhlas' mother.

Hardline cleric Abu Bakar Bashir -- the co-founder of Jemaah Islamiah, the group blamed for the Bali bombings -- praised the bombers as "holy warriors" during a visit to the village on Saturday.

Shouldn't he be next?

Security forces are on high alert across the mainly Muslim country, after the bombers urged supporters to carry out revenge attacks if their executions went ahead.

Australian authorities have advised Australians to reconsider the need to travel to Indonesia.

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Down Under

Just get on with it, Bali bomb victim says

2008-11-04

A SURVIVOR of the 2002 Bali bombings says he is frustrated by delays to the executions of the bombers and has appealed to Indonesian authorities to "just get on with it".

Gold Coast real estate agent Glenn Cosman, who suffered a leg injury and hearing impairment in the Sari Club bombing on October 12, 2002, said he had hoped the execution would have gone ahead by now. "I just think these blokes talk the talk but they don't walk the walk, they say they want to die but yet they keep appealing,'' Mr Cosman said. "It's very contradictory and I think they should just get on with it.''

However, lawyers for the three bombers - Imam Samudra and brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas - yesterday lodged a fourth appeal against their execution. They have also flagged plans to take their case to Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission and to a parliamentary committee.

Mr Cosman said he would have a quiet drink to the trio's demise when the execution finally went ahead. "I think it's very important to make sure that they do get the death penalty because I think that's what they deserve - they are certainly guilty of the crime and have shown no remorse at all,'' he said. "It would make me feel a lot happier because I think the world will be a lot safer place without those guys here.''

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Southeast Asia

Prayers, candles to remember Bali bomb victims

2008-10-12

Survivors and relatives of the victims of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings said prayers and lit candles on Sunday during a small, private ceremony to remember the sixth anniversary of the deadly attacks.

About 50 people, some choking back tears, gathered at the Australian consulate and laid down flowers in memory of the 202 people who died when blasts ripped through the Sari Club and Paddy's Pub in the heart of the tourist strip in Kuta. ...

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Southeast Asia

Islamic terrorists set free

2006-11-16

ALMOST 60 jailed Islamic extremists linked to such atrocities as the Bali bombings have been set free. They include 14 terrorists who have been quietly released in the past two months.

Many of those who walked free in October and this month had at least two months cut from their sentences under Indonesia's justice system.

They were convicted on charges linked to the two Bali bombings, attacks on the Australian Embassy and Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, and other atrocities.

The latest releases, and that in June of Jemaah Islamiah's spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir, have outraged families who lost loved ones in the 2002 and 2005 Bali terrorist strikes.

Dozens more had been arrested by Indonesian police, often with the help of Australian authorities, and held for just days or weeks before being freed for lack of evidence. Those questioned but freed include Jemaah Islamiah member Bambang Tutuko, who was believed to have been trained in bomb making under the notorious Dr Azahari Husin. He was held for just one day in September 2003.

Australian survivors of the attacks were shocked last night to learn those responsible had escaped justice.

"They've probably been in jail for maybe a couple of years. That's not enough. They're accessories to murder, they played a part in killing 202 people," said Melbourne man Dale Atkin, who suffered severe burns in the Sari Club bombing in 2002.

Other survivors feared those set free could be plotting more terrorist attacks.
"While they're alive they've still got the opportunity to plan these attacks," said Leanne Woodgate, who escaped death when she fled Paddy's bar.

More than 200 prisoners are in Indonesian jails as a result of terrorism-related offences.

But the dozens already released had been arrested for connections to the Bali, Australian Embassy and Marriott bombings, terror-linked weapons offences and a string of Christmas Eve church bombings in 2000.

Others had harboured known terrorists who were being hunted for the 2002 Kuta attacks that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Among those freed in the past two months are:

SIROJUL Munir bin Achmad Asumi, convicted of providing money and harbouring terrorists after the Bali bombings, given a two-month remission on a five-year sentence.

GUN GUN Rusman Gunawan, jailed for involvement in JI's al-Ghuraba cell and document fraud. Also linked to financing the 2003 Marriott blast, which killed 12. Released at the end of Ramadan.

MUHAJIR bin Amin, Sukastopo bin Kartomiarjo and Eko Hadi Prasetyo bin Sukastopo, arrested in 2003 for helping hide Bali bomber Ali Imron in Kalimantan each received a two-month sentence reduction.

MUHAMMAD Rusi bin Salim, KOMPAK member, also concealed the whereabouts of Imron while he was on the run.

PURYANTO, alias Pak De, helped hide Imron and fellow bomber Mubarok later received a two-month remission.

ABDUL Haer, Mujahidin KOMPAK member arrested in 2003 in connection with attacks in Poso, sentenced to four years but released early.

ARMAN, Andang, Hamdan, Syafri and Hendra Yadi, also Mujahidin KOMPAK members arrested for the Poso attack, released this month.

Freed earlier were JI member Dedi Mulyadi, who was involved in the Christmas 2000 bombings in Java and released in 2004. Firmansyah, alias Edi Harun, was also freed after about two years' jail for helping hide Imron.

And like JI leader Bashir who was controversially freed after 2 1/2 years, Abu Jibril, a close associate of Bashir and a primary recruiter for the group, was held for less than 3 1/2 years.

Originally detained in Malaysia, Jibril was sentenced to 5 1/2 months for immigration and forgery but authorities could not lay terrorism charges.

Dozens of other suspected militants were also picked up but were unable to be prosecuted because of lack of evidence. They include Dahlan, aka Leo, a JI member and trained bomb-maker who was held for a week.

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Southeast Asia

Bali bombers death date set

2006-07-10

THE three Bali bombers on death row will be executed by firing squad at the end of the month, according to the Denpasar prosecutors office.

Burn in Allahs hell

Lawyers for Imam Samudra, 36, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, 43, and Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, 46, had not lodged expected appeal documents, clearing the way for execution within weeks.
Bali's Denpost newspaper today quoted officials as saying time had run out for the men convicted over the 2002 truck bomb blasts at the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

The reported execution timetable could not be immediately confirmed by AAP today.

"We waited, but they have not been lodged," the paper quoted an unidentified official in the prosecutor's office as saying about the three men's appeals.

"It seems that by the end of July to be exact July 30 the execution will be done.

"We are just awaiting the orders of the attorney-general's office."

Lawyers for the three had promised to lodge appeals in May, basing their applications on the fact that anti-terrorism laws used to convict them were brought into force after the attacks.

In 2003 Indonesia's constitutional court ruled the use of retroactive legislation was illegal.

Indonesian Attorney-General Abdul Rahman Saleh has ruled the three, who have refused asking for presidential clemency, will be executed on the remote prison island of Nusakambangan off southern Java, dubbed "Indonesia's Alcatraz".

A spokesman for the Attorney-General refused to confirm the execution timetable, saying only that preparations for the firing squad have begun.

"What is clear is that it will be Nusakambangan, but we don't know the exact place yet," he told AAP.

Denpasar prosecutor Wayan Suwila also refused to confirm July 30 for the executions and said authorities might be trying to pressure lawyers to lodge their requests for Supreme Court judicial review, thereby halting the process as the appeals are considered.

"The impact of saying things like that would be too vast," he said.

"Maybe, just maybe, this is a tactic to provoke the lawyers."

The three bombers were moved to Nusakambangan last October on security grounds after Balinese incensed by triple suicide bombings rioted outside their Denpasar prison and demanded their immediate execution.

Balinese community leaders have demanded the trio be executed on the island where they committed their crimes.

Executions in Indonesia are carried out at dawn by hand-picked paramilitary police at a secret location, usually a patch of forest or a beach.

Meanwhile, the radical cleric jailed and later released for giving his blessings to the Bali bombings, Abu Bakar Bashir, is reportedly planning to join one of Indonesia's largest Islamic political parties.

The conservative Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (United Development Party) of former vice president Hamzah Haz has invited Bashir to become a member, the Indo Pos newspaper reported,

"The PPP is a party based on Islam, which is the same path followed by Ustadz (honoured teacher) Abu Bakar Bashir," the party's central Java branch head KH Thoyfoer said.

Bashir was released from jail on June 14 after serving a total of four years, including a sentence for involvement in the first Bali bombings.

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Southeast Asia

JI leaders regrouping from Mindanao base

2006-03-04

TWO of the terrorists behind the 2002 Bali bombings continue to plot attacks from their hideout in The Philippines and regularly use satellite phones to contact extremists in Indonesian prisons and in Malaysia.

Dulmatin and Umar Patek, along with four or five fellow militants and their wives and children, have been hiding in the jungles of the southern Philippines where they continue the fight against the West, according to terror expert and International Crisis Group Southeast Asia director Sidney Jones.

But they are keeping in touch with their counterparts throughout Southeast Asia.

"They are ringing and they talk to their friends in Indonesian prisons and their friends in Malaysia," Ms Jones said.

The US State Department has offered $US10million for the capture of electronics expert Dulmatin and $US1million for Patek.

Both were leading extremists in the terror network Jemaah Islamiah, however, Ms Jones said they were now working closely with the Philippines militant force Abu Sayyaf.

Dulmatin, a veteran of the Afghan jihad, had been recruited as an Abu Sayyaf commander, she added.

JI and Abu Sayyaf have been linked with Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network, and Dulmatin's experience in assembling the Bali bombs may have been drawn upon in The Philippines.

Nicknamed The Genius, the 35-year-old Indonesian is thought to have been a protege of master bomb-maker Azahari bin Husin, the JI leader who was shot dead by police in Java last year.

A team of Australian Federal Police officers is in The Philippines to help hunt for the militants, who have twice been reported dead. Ms Jones said the terrorists' hideout had been found in the past, and air-strikes carried out, but no trace of their bodies had been found.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last month ordered the Philippines military to track down Dulmatin and Patek, who experts believe have evaded capture by frequently moving camp.

"They are actively engaged," Ms Jones said. "They are writing materials about the jihad in The Philippines which are posted on websites, they are making CDs in Arabic to seek money in the Middle East and they are trying to recruit new people for pay-as-you-go training."

An extremist now on trial in Jakarta for providing assistance to terrorists helped Patek and Dulmatin flee Indonesia shortly after the 2002 Bali bombings. Abdullah Sunata told police Patek had sent him seven guns in April or May 2004 to use in the Indonesian province of Ambon, where sectarian conflict raged until 2002, and where sporadic violence has continued.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said in Jakarta this week that capturing Dulmatin and Patek was crucial in the fight against terror.

The bombers are high on the list of Asia's most wanted men, following the 2002 Bali blasts which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Dulmatin allegedly helped assemble the bombs used at the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar, and Patek is believed to have been an assistant field co-ordinator for the operation.

"Quite clearly they're our highest priority," Mr Keelty said.

Militants across the region used a variety of communication methods, Mr Keelty said.

"We see intelligence on that nearly every day," he said.

"There are significant linkages still, most of it on a personal basis, but some of it through different communications technology."

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Southeast Asia

Top, Dulmatin now the top JI leaders with Azahari's demise

2005-11-11

You passed up the opportunity to headline it Top Top Terr?

THE demise of Malaysian bomb-maker Azahari Husin is a major coup for Indonesian and Australian police that will undoubtedly dent JI's capacity to carry out more bloody attacks. An Australian-educated engineer with a PhD in statistics, Azahari learnt his explosives skills under al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan and wrote the JI bomb manual. He designed and oversaw construction of the bombs that wrecked the Sari Club and Paddy's bar in Bali in 2002, the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003, and the Australian embassy in September last year. He was also the main suspect in the recent Bali bombings.

Indonesian police say Azahari was preparing new atrocities when he was cornered in West Java last Wednesday. Thirty freshly made bombs were found in the ruins of the house where police say he was shot before it was blown up. But the death of JI's most prolific and lethal bomb-maker does not mean the end of its vicious campaign. JI has shown itself to be sophisticated and resilient enough to withstand the arrest of key leaders and operatives, from commander-in-chief Hambali to spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir. No doubt it will prove that tenacity again.

Key JI operatives who have proved every bit as deadly as Azahari remain at large. Among them is Azahari's fellow Malaysian and long-time partner, Noordin Mohammed Top, a science graduate from Azahari's alma mater, the University of Technology in Malaysia. Now aged 37, Top has played a major role alongside Azahari in all of JI's operations since the 2002 Bali bombings. A more reserved and shadowy figure than the garrulous Azahari, Top has attracted less public attention. But authorities believe his role in JI's atrocities has been just as crucial.

Testimony from JI detainees shows Top's task is the recruitment and indoctrination of the young foot-soldiers who detonate the bombs. Sidney Jones, of the International Crisis Group, told a conference in Singapore in July that Top was even "more important than Azahari", describing Azahari as "the technician" and Top as the brains. Testimony from the men convicted over the Australian embassy bombing shows it was Top who chose the Australian mission as the target, recruited the operatives and oversaw preparation of the suicide bomber, Heri Golun, who drove the van packed with explosives to the embassy's gates.

According to fellow militant Rois, recently sentenced to death for his part in the embassy bombing, Top revelled in his status. Rois told the Indonesian police of his first meeting with the notorious JI fugitive. "The talk began with him introducing himself as Noordin Mohammed Top and showing us a photo of himself in a newspaper as a person wanted by the police." And after the bombing, Top told his helpers to remain in West Java, "because we had other targets in Jakarta, God willing".

Top was also the main recruiter and indoctrinator for the earlier bombing of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta. One of the men he recruited gave evidence of a fanatical and desperate ideologue. The recruit, Sardona Siliwangi, told Indonesian police of one conversation with Top. "He told me once we are in the middle of enemies, so how can we remain calm. He said you have never suffered yourself, but I have felt how it feels being chased down. Just imagine, I was relaxing at home when suddenly someone knocked on my door. There was a good chance I was going to be killed or arrested. In such a condition, how can we be calm? We have to destroy our enemies before they destroy us."

The group's other key bomb-maker is the elusive Indonesian known as Dulmatin, one of 14 aliases. Dulmatin is now based in the southern Philippines, where he has been hiding since escaping the Indonesian police dragnet after the 2002 Bali bombings. The US Government posted a $US10million ($13.7million) reward for Dulmatin last month, placing him at No 3 on Washington's most wanted terrorist list. Only Osama bin Laden and the Iraqi al-Qa'ida chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are worth more, at $US25million each.

A former prize-winning maths student, described by his teachers as a genius, Dulmatin topped his explosives class in Afghanistan and became an instructor, passing on his expertise in bomb-making to dozens of other trainees. After returning to Indonesia, Dulmatin played a key role in every JI bombing, starting with its first attack - blowing up the car of the Philippine ambassador in Jakarta in August 2000. He also played a critical part in JI's first large-scale operation, the bombing of Christian churches across Indonesia on Chrismas Eve 2000. JI's chief commander Hambali gave Dulmatin the crucial task of making the timers for the dozens of bombs that exploded almost simultaneously, killing 19 people and injuring 120. Dulmatin helped Azahari to build the 2002 Bali bombs and is a suspect in JI's more recent operations.

Since fleeing to The Philippines, Dulmatin has joined forces with the Abu Sayyaf guerilla group, an al-Qa'ida offshoot known for kidnapping and beheading hostages. Dulmatin works closely with Abu Sayyaf's leader, Khadaffy Janjalani. In return for safe haven in the areas controlled by Janjalani's group in the southern Philippines, JI has provided funding and training to the Abu Sayyaf recruits. This disturbing new alliance has helped to make the southern Philippines a major new front line in the war on terror.

According to Philippine authorities, Dulmatin has provided JI funding and assistance for a string of terrorist attacks carried out by Abu Sayyaf, including the sinking of a Manila ferry in 2003 in which more than 100 people died and a series of bombings on Valentine's Day this year. Chilling new insights into Dulmatin's plans were revealed with the arrest this week of an accused militant named Ahmad Santos, founder of the Rajah Solaiman movement, a group of Muslim converts committed to violent jihad in The Philippines. Santos was in hiding with Dulmatin before his capture last Tuesday. According to the Philippine military, Santos revealed under interrogation that Dulmatin was planning to replicate the 2002 Bali bombings in Manila with an attack on a nightclub frequented by foreigners. "They were planning to put up a 1000-kilo explosive - the lethality of which is even worse than used in Bali," an army spokesman told reporters.

The revelation underscored the stark warning issued by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: "Recent reports suggest terrorists may be in the final stages of planning an attack. Attacks could occur at any time anywhere in The Philippines."

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Down Under

Stop aid to Indonesia: Bali victim

2005-10-26

A Victim of the 2002 Bali bombings has urged Australia to stop aid to Indonesia in protest against moves to further reduce the jail term of radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

Erik de Haart, a spokesman for Sydney's Coogee Dolphins rugby league club which lost six players in the terrorist attack, said the recommended 30-day remission for Bashir was disgusting.
Mr de Haart, who was standing outside Bali's Sari Club when the 2002 attack occurred, said the Australian Government should immediately withdraw aid to Indonesia unless it guaranteed not to reduce Bashir's jail term.

In the aftermath of the latest bombings in Bali this month, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer announced a $1 million aid package.

"It p****s me off that the Indonesians treat us like this," Mr de Haart said. "The Government needs to protest in the strongest terms possible â if they want to treat us with disrespect, we should hold the aid back.

"Give it to Laos or Cambodia or countries that will respect us and can use it.

"This shows how little respect Indonesia has, not only for the people that died, but for Australians in general."
An Indonesian Justice Ministry source said today prison authorities had requested a 30-day remission for Bashir to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan next week.

By tradition in Indonesia, the sentences of thousands of convicted inmates are reduced as part of religious celebrations.

If approved by Justice Hamid Awuluddin as expected, the remission would mean that Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, which is blamed for the 2002 Bali blasts, the October 1 bombings and a string of other attacks, would walk free in May next year.

The Australian Government has repeatedly protested against moves to reduce Bashir's sentence but Mr de Haart said it had not tried hard enough.

"Their efforts have been crap," he said.

"It really saddens me and it embarrasses me: the stance that Alexander Downer takes. He's not strong enough in complaining to them."

He said stronger protests might not change the minds of the Indonesians, but Australia should show it is angry about the move and does not want to see it happen again, "not stand back and take it".

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Southeast Asia

Wahid: Indonesian police or military may have played role in 1st Bali bombing

2005-10-12

CHAOTIC scenes marred yesterday's third anniversary of the Bali bombings as a former Indonesian president suggested his country's military or police may have been behind one of the 2002 bombings.

A violent mob of 2000 angry protesters stormed Bali's Kerobokan jail, breaking down a wall outside the prison and demanding the execution of three of the Bali bombers.
Chanting "Kill Amrozi, kill Amrozi", the crowd removed part of the jail's main steel door before riot police stopped them from entering the prison where some of the Bali bombers are held.

The violence co-incided with the claim by former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid that Indonesian police or military officers may have played a role in the first Bali bombing.

Wahid told SBS's Dateline program that he had grave concerns about links between Indonesian authorities and terrorist groups and believed that authorities may have organised the larger of the two 2002 Bali bombings which hit the Sari Club, killing the bulk of the 202 people who died.

Officials and experts were quick to play down his claims which, if true, would have grave diplomatic consequences for Australia's relationship with its nearest neighbour.
Asked who he thought planted the second bomb, Mr Wahid said: "Maybe the police ... or the armed forces." "The orders to do this or that came from within our armed forces, not from the fundamentalist people."

Speaking in Jakarta last night, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said "it's just rubbish".

Singapore-based terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna said the report had "absolutely no credibility". "The Indonesian police have been doing a great job of hunting down the terrorists."

He said Indonesia's political leaders were committed to combating terrorism and there was "no evidence to suggest TNI (Indonesian military) involvement, either". "I can't understand why a man of his standing would be raising such issues," Mr Gunaratna said.

Greg Fealy, an Indonesian expert at the Australian National University, said Mr Wahid's claim was a "bizarre suggestion". "There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the Indonesian police are in cahoots with the terrorists."

Mr Wahid's claims will not help the investigation into last week's Bali bombings, which left 23 people dead, including four Australians.

The protesters who tried to storm Kerobokan jail yesterday were seeking the three ringleaders of the 2002 bombings - Amrozi bin Nurhasyin, his elder brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra. But the three were moved for security reasons to Batu prison on Nusakambangan, an island south of Java before yesterday's third anniversary of the attacks.

Dateline also reported claims that Indonesian intelligence had close links with many local terrorist groups. "There is not a single Islamic group either in the movement or the political groups that is not controlled by (Indonesian) intelligence," said former terrorist Umar Abduh, who is now a researcher and writer.

He has written a book on Teungku Fauzi Hasbi, a key figure in Jemaah Islamiah, who had close contact with JI operations chief Hambali and lived next to Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

He says Hasbi was a secret agent for Indonesia's military intelligence while at the same time a key player in creating JI.

Documents cited by SBS showed the Indonesian chief of military intelligence in 1990 authorised Hasbi to undertake a "special job". And a 2002 document assigned Hasbi the job of special agent for BIN, the Indonesian national intelligence agency.

Security analyst John Mempi told SBS that Hasbi, who was also known as Abu Jihad, had played a key role in JI in its early years.

"The first Jemaah Islamiah congress in Bogor was facilitated by Abu Jihad, after Abu Bakar Bashir returned from Malaysia," Mr Mempi said. "We can see that Abu Jihad played an important role. He was later found to be an intelligence agent. So an intelligence agent has been facilitating the radical Islamic movement."

Meanwhile the investigation into the second Bali bombings appears to have stalled.

Bali police chief Made Mangku Pastika yesterday denied the detention of 45-year-old construction worker Hasan was significant in the investigation into the triple suicide bombings, while senior police refused to confirm speculation in the local press that a man named Yanto was one of the three suicide bombers.

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