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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. “Hambali’s 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: “It’s the proper time to take revenge by bombing churches.” “Me, Amrozi and Mubarok spent the night in Hambali’s 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 JI’s operations chief, had masterminded them. “I think he didn’t 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 couldn’t be prosecuted retroactively under the 2002 terrorism law, and no forensic evidence linked him to other plots. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 "Hambali's role in the Christmas Eve terror was to trigger our desire to wage jihad against nonbelievers," Who taught them that?The saudis/Wahabbis come to mind!!!! |
| Posted by: Paul2 2009-03-10 10:18 |