Monday 9 August 2010

Indonesian Muslim preacher Bashir in terror arrest

Indonesian police have arrested the controversial Muslim preacher Abu Bakir Bashir on terror charges.
Officials said they had proof he was linked a training camps recently discovered in Aceh, West Sumatra.
Mr Bashir is known for fiery anti-Western rhetoric but proof of direct engagement in attacks has been elusive.
The discovery in February of training camps in Aceh showed the opening of a new front in the country's often successful campaign against extremism.
The anti-terror police unit Detachment 88 detained Mr Bashir because of links to Islamic militant training camps, a government official said.
He is believed to be the head of a hardline Islamist group, the Jema'ah Ansharut Tauhid.
Mr Bashir's lawyer, Muhammad Ali, said his client was arrested in the Ciamis district of West Java.
Founder of the Ngruki boarding school in East Java, he was the spiritual adviser to young men who went on to mount the Bali bomb attacks of 2002 which killed 202 people.
Mr Bashir was released from prison in 2006 after serving several years for involvement with Jemaah Islamiah, the group responsible for the Bali bombings.
His history of activism goes back to the 1980s when then-President Suharto imprisoned him for advocating that Indonesia should be an Islamic state.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group has reported a general decline in violent extremism across Indonesia but has stressed the ability of the remaining small groups to commit terrorist acts.
It said in a report last month that some members of JAT were involved in violent plots foiled by police.
This weekend, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he had been saved from an attack on his life by anti-terror police.
Last July, simultaneous suicide bomb attacks on two five-star hotels in Jakarta killed nine people.

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