Cleric 'headed Bali bomb terror group'

Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is the head of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, and once told its members that shedding the blood of non-Muslims is allowed under Islamic law, a key witness told a court today.

Nasir Abbas, a Malaysian who said he was a former Jemaah Islamiyah operative, also told Bashir’s terrorism trial that the defendant claimed to have met al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Bashir denied all of Abbas’ testimony, which was the first to directly link the ageing cleric to Jemaah Islamiyah. The al-Qaida affiliate has been blamed for a string of bloody terror attacks in Indonesia and failed plots elsewhere in south-east Asia.

Hundreds of Bashir supporters jeered and shouted “Liar!” as Abbas addressed the court in southern Jakarta. “You are saying this because the police forced you to,” one man yelled.

The US and Australia have both accused Bashir of being a key terrorist, and urged Jakarta to bring him to trial again after he was acquitted of related terrorism offences last year.

Abbas alleged that Bashir “headed Jemaah Islamiyah” and swore him in as a member of the group at a ceremony on Java island in 2000.

Abbas said Bashir was then asked by a new recruit whether stealing the money of non-Muslims was halal – permissible under Islamic law.

“Shedding their blood is halal, so of course taking their money is,” Abbas quoted Bashir as saying.

Abbas said Bashir stayed for three nights at a Jemaah Islamiyah training camp in April 2000 in the southern Philippines. He addressed 17 Indonesian recruits there on the need for jihad, or holy war, he said.

Bashir is charged – as head of Jemaah Islamiyah – with inspiring his followers to launch the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including more than 20 young Britons, and last year’s attack on the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, that killed 12.

If convicted, Bashir could be sentenced to death.