Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Bashir al-Ameriki, born Bryant Neal Vinas, was in the right place at the right time. He caught a wave of online jihadi activism dominated by some really interesting and aggressive individuals, and he rode that wave all the way to glory - sort of. Now he's a prized possession of the United States of America. I have to assume there are a number of indictments either pending or under seal, because Bashir likes to talk."

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have arrested Wan Min Wan Mat, a key leader of Kumpulan Militant Malaysia (KMM) during an operation in Kota Baru Friday morning. Inspector-general of police Tan Sri Norian Mai said the 42-year-old former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) lecturer was arrested at about 9.30am. Police are looking for eight suspects who are key KMM members and are offering a RM50,000 reward for information on each leader.

KUALA LUMPUR, November 10 (IslamOnline) - The Muslim leader accused of terror links with the al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) Abu Bakar Bashir risks deportation to Malaysia, Singapore or the U.S. if he is stripped of his Indonesian nationality, sources said Sunday, November 10. Singapore and Malaysia have in the past urged Indonesia to arrest Bashir for his alleged role in terror activities on their soil. Basyir is accused by Singapore of being the spiritual leader of the JI while Malaysia has him high on the terror list allegedly for connections with the Malaysian Mujahidin Movement (KMM). The U.S....

When Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir arrived in Cairo yesterday noon for talks with President Hosni Mubarak it was his second overseas trip since the arrest warrant indicting him for war crimes and crimes against humanity was issued on 4 March by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The message Al-Bashir is sending by making consecutive trips to Asmara and Cairo is, his aides say, one of "defiance" against the ICC warrant. Official Sudanese statements suggest Al-Bashir's defiance may well extend to the annual Arab summit in Doha on 30 March despite orchestrated appeals by the masses and an unprecedented religious edict...

After months of deliberation, the pre-trial chamber judges finally decided to issue the warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity for alleged atrocities committed in the Darfur region of Sudan. The question now is what will happen next? The stakes could not be higher. On the one hand supporters of the global court will be hoping that the arrest warrant will be enough to persuade Sudan's politicians to hand the country's leader over. Over the last few months rumours that a coup is on the cards have been circulating around Khartoum. But insiders say that senior members of the...

March 2009 Update on the racist Arab Muslim [Arab league backed] dictator Al Bashir's arrest warrant for genocide, crimes against humanity     Ban urges Sudan to ensure safety of UN bodies Reuters - [March, 4, 2009]UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Khartoum to cooperate with all UN entities and ensure their safety after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on Wednesday for Sudan's leader.http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5234A520090304   World court issues arrest warrant for Sudan's Bashir Christian Science Monitor [Mar. 4, 2009]‎http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0305/p90s01-woaf.html   Court issues war crimes warrant for Sudan's Bashir The Associated Press  [Mar. 4, 2009]‎...charges...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CNN) -- The International Criminal Court at the Hague issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for a five-year campaign of violence in Darfur. Bashir is charged with seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The warrant does not mention genocide, but the court may issue an amended warrant to include that charge later, ICC spokeswoman Laurence Blairon said. Five counts are for crimes against humanity and include murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape, Blairon said. The other two are for war crimes, for intentionally directing attacks against civilians and...

Israel's air force fired around 20 missiles at targets in Gaza City on Saturday, causing heavy damage, a Reuters witness said. The IDF has confirmed the report. (Hanan Greenberg and Reuters)

BOYOLALI (Indonesia) - For the skullcapped students of the Darusy Syahadah Islamic school, there is no question that the three radical jihadis behind the 2002 bombings on Indonesia's Bali island are heroes. Sheltering from the equatorial sun on the steps of the school's mosque, the students crowd to offer their approval of bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra. Authorities said this week the three bombers will face the firing squad by early November for their role in the attack, which killed 202 people. 'They're holy warriors, that's how I respond, they're holy warriors,' said Sir Muhammad Royhan Syihabuddin Ar-Rohmi, a...

Sudan's Bashir 'masterminded' genocide: Prosecutor UN to withdraw staff as backlash fears grow Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service Published: Monday, July 14, 2008 UNITED NATIONS - The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court formally accused the Sudanese president Monday of being the “mastermind” of what he called a genocidal campaign against three ethnic groups in Sudan’s western Darfur region.... They are expected to take about three months to review the evidence, which Moreno-Ocampo says shows al-Bashir used the Sudanese army and members of the Arab Janjaweed militias to escalate a conflict that has left 300,000 dead and driven 2.5...

Bali bombing cleric attacks western tourists By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 1:56am GMT 25/03/2008 Western tourists in Indonesia are "maggots, snakes and worms" who should be beaten up, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings has told hardline Islamic followers. Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric who was convicted of conspiracy over the Bali bombings but later cleared and released from prison after 26 months, said the island resort had been overrun by scantily-clad tourists who deserved to be attacked for their immorality. "Worms, snakes, maggots... those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali... those infidel...

ISLAMIC cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has returned to his hardline rhetoric with a call for followers to beat up Western tourists and for young Muslims to die as martyrs. In the sermon, organised by an Islamic youth organisation and delivered a few kilometres from the home village of convicted Bali bombers Amrozi and Mukhlas, Bashir likened tourists in Bali to "worms, snakes, maggots", and specifically referred to the immorality of Australian infidels. The address was caught on video by an Australian university student. "The youth movement here must aspire to a martyrdom death," said the cleric, who was convicted of...

The secret war On the North-West Frontier, soldiers are trying to tighten the noose around bin Laden's forces. But in Europe and America, there is no clear enemy to fight - yet every expert knows that a terrorist atrocity is coming Mark Townsend in Tangier, John Hooper in Madrid, Greg Bearup in Peshawar, Paul Harris in Washington, Peter Beaumont in Baghdad, Antony Barnett, Martin Bright, Jason Burke and Nick Pelham in London Sunday March 21, 2004 The Observer There were shadows in the rocks. As the 12 US Special Forces soldiers arrived at a remote mountain region in eastern Afghanistan...

Taking Islamofascists at their word http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/syndicated/story/3676104p-13063342c.html DEROY MURDOCK: Taking Islamofascists at their word -- Scripps Howard News Service Published: Thursday, August 9, 2007 NEW YORK Give Islamic extremists this: They are as clear as the desert sunshine about their plans for us infidels. Unlike America's former Cold War enemies, who swaddled their barbed wire and ballistic missiles in warm words about proletarian liberation, Muslim hotheads state their intentions with disarming candor. "The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said. "One of the primary responsibilities of the Muslim ruler is to...

A Palestinian from the Gaza Strip who works for the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, has been arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed Thursday. Mazab Bashir, 25, from Deir el-Balah began working with Doctors Without Borders five years ago. On April 19, he confessed during a Shin Bet interrogation that for months, he had been collecting intelligence on senior Israeli officials, including Olmert and a number of Knesset members. Bashir met with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in September 2006, and said that the killing was...

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia overturned a terror conviction Thursday against the militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who served 2 1/2 years for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he was upset for the families of the 88 Australian victims but was powerless to help. Australia, along with the United States, publicly accused the aging cleric of being a top leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked Southeast Asian terror group. "Of course it is the court system of another country and we can't change that," Howard told...

INDONESIA'S Supreme Court has overturned a guilty verdict against Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for conspiracy in the deadly 2002 Bali bombings, a court spokesman said today. Some foreign governments accuse the cleric of having led a regional extremist group and the move is likely to anger countries such as Australia, which lost 88 nationals in the bomb attacks on nightclubs on the Indonesian resort island. Bashir was released in June after completing a 30-month jail sentence for being part of a conspiracy behind the bombings. The Supreme Court, in response to an appeal by Bashir challenging the verdict, ruled...

Indonesia's Supreme Court has overturned militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir's conviction on conspiracy charges in the 2002 Bali bombings. The verdict clears his name since he has already served his two-and-a-half year sentence. "The court today decided to uphold Bashir's judicial review," chief judge German Hoediarto said on Thursday.

Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has accused America's main intelligence agency of involvement in the 2002 Bali suicide bombings, which claimed the lives of 202 people, including 88 Australians. Bashir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), was released from prison in June after having served almost two years for involvement in the conspiracy which led to the attack.

Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir claims America's top spy agency was involved in the devastating 2002 Bali bombings. Bashir, who was convicted and imprisoned for having prior knowledge of the attacks which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, is also appealing for the lives of three convicted bombers to be spared. Bashir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), was released from prison in June after serving nearly two years. Amrozi, Ali Ghufron - also known as Mukhlas - and Imam Samudra are awaiting execution for their part in the plot. In an interview tonight on ABC television's Foreign...

To anyone who didn't know better, it might seem that the world is finally getting serious about stopping the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, which over the past two years has claimed at least 300,000 lives and displaced at least 2 million people. After months of huffing and puffing, the UN Security Council finally agreed to freeze the assets of war-crimes suspects, impose a travel ban on them, and refer them for trial to the International Criminal Court. The latter resolution was the subject of tortuous negotiations between the Bush administration, which loathes the ICC (even though it...

RADICAL Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir yesterday said the Bali bombing victims were destined to die by God and their families should now convert to Islam. He also called on Prime Minister John Howard to become a Muslim or burn in hell. Mr Howard has written to Indonesia's president to express disgust at Bashir. Just 24 hours after being released from prison for his part in the 2002 bombings, Bashir said becoming Muslims would give the bereaved relatives "salvation and peace". "For the Bali bomb families, those who are non-Muslims, my suggestion is just convert to Islam so they can...

Militan cleric Abu Bakar Bashir gestures during a press conference at his residence in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, Thursday, June 15, 2006. The Freed cleric on Thursday described the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings as "God's will" and encouraged non-Muslim survivors of the attacks to convert to Islam. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)","DITA ALANGKARA", "AP"); June 15, 2006, 10:08AMCleric Calls on Bush to Convert to Islam By IRWAN FIRDAUS Associated Press Writer © 2006 The Associated Press SOLO, Indonesia — A reputed leader of an al-Qaida-linked terror group blamed for deadly bombings across Indonesia on Thursday accused President Bush and Australia's prime...

MELBOURNE, June 12 (Bernama) -- The scheduled release on Wednesday of Abu Bakar Bashir, alleged spiritual leader of the extremist group Jemaah Islamiah, could spark a fresh round of terror strikes. Rohan Gunaratna, Head of the International Centre for Terrorism and Political Violence Research, told "The Australian" newspaper the early release of Abu Bakar would send a dangerous message to terror groups. "Bashir is also the leader of the Majelis Mujahedin Indonesia, an umbrella organisation of jihad groups in Indonesia," Dr Gunaratna was quoted as saying. "He will mobilise them, he will politicise them. He has the credentials because he...

TERRORIST leader Abu Bakar Bashir taunted Australia yesterday, saying the Bali bombing victims had to die "because it was God's will". As John Howard sent a terse letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over this week's release of the radical cleric, Bashir insisted the terrorists behind the Bali bombings "were not the killers, but only Allah's conduit" for the deaths. Bashir was released on Wednesday after serving 26 months of a 30-month sentence for condoning the first Bali attack, in October 2002, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. The Prime Minister's four-paragraph letter told Dr Yudhoyono of the...

While holding a late night press conference in his Ngruki religious boarding school, Abu Bakar Bashir was asked by the ABC if he had a message for Mr Howard when the Prime Minister visits Indonesia later this month. "I think John Howard should convert to Islam," he said. "If he wants to be saved from hell, he needs to convert to Islam and God willing, he will be forgiven by Allah." Secondly, he warned Australians to never try fighting Muslims because they will definitely lose. "Maybe with God's permission, they can kill us, but they certainly can't beat Islam," he...

Bali bomb cleric freed from jail A Muslim cleric convicted over the 2002 nightclub bombings on Indonesian island Bali, which killed 202 people, has been released from prison in Jakarta. Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was found guilty in March 2005 of conspiracy in connection with the bomb plot, but he was cleared of more serious charges. Security experts say the cleric is a founding member of a regional Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). Supporters gathered outside the prison, cheering as he left the building. Australia, from where the majority of those killed in the Bali nightclub bombs came, has said...

Hardline Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir walked out of a Jakarta jail today after serving time for links to the 2002 Bali bombings. Bakir planned to return immediately to an Islamic school in central Java once dubbed the "Ivy League" of militants. Wearing his trademark white skullcap and shawl, a smiling Bashir was surrounded by supporters shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) and by media before getting into a car and being driven away. Seen by the West as the spiritual head of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) regional militant network, Bashir was convicted of being part of a...

Militant Islamic Cleric Released from Indonesian Prison Tuesday , June 13, 2006 JAKARTA, Indonesia — A hardline cleric alleged to be a top leader in the Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group was released from prison Wednesday to cries of "God is great" from scores of cheering supporters. Abu Bakar Bashir, 68, had served 26 months for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people and thrust Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, onto the front lines of the war on terror. "I thank Allah that I am free today," a smiling and waving Bashir said after...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A military investigation into allegations that U.S. troops intentionally killed Iraqi civilians in a March raid in Ishaqi, a village north of Baghdad, has cleared the troops of misconduct, the military said Friday — despite dramatic video footage of slain children. Meanwhile, a lawyer representing families of some of the two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians allegedly killed by U.S. Marines in the western town of Haditha on Nov. 19 said three or four Marines carried out the shootings while 20 more waited outside the homes. He also said victims' relatives turned down a request by U.S. investigators...

Chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis has set Nov. 25 as the final deadline for the Assad regime to bow to his demand to interrogate 6 senior Syrian intelligence officers over their role in Lebanon's five-time Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, the London-based Al Hayat newspaper reported on Thursday. Al Hayat quoted diplomatic sources in London as saying the Berlin prosecutor was awaiting at his Monteverde headquarters near Beirut Syria's official response by Friday to his demand that the 6, including President Assad's brother-in-law Gen. Assef Shawkat, be interrogated in either Vienna or Geneva. Although Syria is still insisting on signing...

Just six weeks before last Saturday's terrorist atrocity in Bali, in a jail cell in Jakarta, I interviewed Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), al-Qa'eda's main ally in the region, and the group on which western attention is focused in the hunt for culprits. Bashir was celebrating the news that an Indonesian court had agreed to reduce his 30-month sentence for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings by more than four months, meaning that he will soon walk free. Ever since the first bombings, in which 202 people died, Indonesian authorities have been woolly in...

Indonesia will ignore Australian protests and slash the prison sentences of 27 Bali bombers as well as their alleged spiritual leader, radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Remissions for thousands of inmates are being handed down to mark the end of Islam's Ramadan fasting month. Bashir is expected to get one month sliced off his sentence, meaning he could be free by next April. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer travelled to Jakarta last month to persuade President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to block reductions for those convicted of terror offences. But Indonesia's Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin says they'll go ahead according to existing...

Planned Bashir jail cut 'disappointing' 27oct05 AUSTRALIANS would find plans to reduce the sentence of the radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir disappointing, Acting Prime Minister Mark Vaile said today. Bashir, who was jailed over his part in the 2002 Bali bombings, may receive a 30-day reduction to his sentence to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan next week. If granted, Bashir could be free by May next year. In August, his 30-month sentence was reduced by more than four months to mark Indonesian Independence Day. "I'm sure that many Australians would find that disappointing given the...

Congratulations, David Westin. You've replaced serious, competent, respected Ted Koppel with the oily, obsequious Martin Bashir on "Nightline." My only question is, was Jerry Springer not available? Perhaps Westin, the head of ABC News, has not seen the "outtakes" of Bashir's interviews with Michael Jackson from his original "documentary." But I've seen it and so have the many other journalists who were in the Santa Maria courtroom where Jackson was tried for child molestation last spring. I have no doubt most of them had the same reaction as I when they heard today that Bashir had been given a co-hosting...

Bali bombings were Allah's warning, says jailed terror leader By Sebastien Berger in Denpasar (Filed: 05/10/2005) The spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, the terror group blamed for the weekend's suicide bombings in Bali, condemned the attacks yesterday from his prison cell. A multi-faith blessing is held near one of the bomb sites But Abu Bakar Bashir, who is serving a 30-month sentence for conspiracy linked to the 2002 Bali bombs, also said victims of Saturday's outrage should "accept this fate from Allah". Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network, seeks to establish a caliphate across...

Bashir's term to be cut further JAILED extremist cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is set to have his sentence further reduced, despite his call for jihadists to embrace nuclear weapons in the lead-up to the weekend's Bali bombings. As Indonesian police continued their investigations into the suicide attacks that killed at least 22 people, including four Australians, prison officials confirmed that the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah was likely to receive a further cut to his 30-month sentence for conspiracy in connection with the October 2002 Bali bombings. Australia has lobbied hard to keep Bashir in prison, but it now seems...

Indonesia: Bashir gets 6 Months for Terrorism;Women get 3 Years for "Christianization" Dr. Rebecca Laonita, Mrs Ratna Mala Bangun and Mrs Ety Pangesti, of the Christian Church of David's Camp; were involved in a children's holiday project called ‘Happy Week’. Murderous threats were made by Islamic extremists inside and outside the courtroom. One was reported to have brought a coffin to bury the defendant if they were found innocent. Stay Angry Large map of Iraq         Large map of Afghanistan         Large Map of Pakistan         Large Map of the Philippines         Large Map of Kashmir Taliban Commander Killed in Afghanistan by NOOR...

Jemaah Islamiyah "Cleric" Abu Bakar Bashir to Get Early Release from Prison Kill 202 people, get 5 months in jail. Another 18 people involved in the Bali bombings will be released as well. Stay AngryLarge map of Iraq         Large map of Afghanistan         Large Map of Pakistan Al-Qaeda death confirmed (Abu Zubair) By Maxim Kniazkov A TOP aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of the al-Qaeda operation in Iraq and accused of masterminding high-profile suicide bombings in the country, has been killed by Iraqi security forces, defence officials have confirmed. But the battlefield success hardly impressed two leading US senators, who...

Australia will raise with Indonesia its concerns over a possible reduction in the sentence of one of the Bali bombing ringleaders as part of independence celebrations. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia did not want to see the 30-month sentence of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir further reduced. Bashir is in jail for his role in instigating the October 2002 bombings in which 202 people died, including 88 Australians. "We wouldn't want to see his already rather short sentence reduced and our ambassador is taking this matter up with the Indonesians," Mr Downer told reporters. "We will get a report...

About Sudan - What can be done about this evil regime? National ReviewThursday, May 12, 2005    By: Jay Nordlinger ...It was last September 9 that the United States — in the person of then-secretary of state Colin Powell — declared that genocide was taking place in Darfur. There is now some debate across the government about whether genocide continues, although there is no doubt that extensive murder and other terror are ongoing. Is the U.S. doing everything it possibly can? The answer is no, if the possibilities include the dispatch of American troops to the region. But this is not...

The leniency of Bali bombing mastermind Abu Bakar Bashir's sentence -- 30 months for the murder of 202 people -- has shocked the Australian public, not in the least because after long labor the mountain has brought forth a mouse. Former magistrate Brian Deegan, who lost his son Josh, 22, in the Bali bombing, said Bashir's sentence was outrageous. "It equates to a bit over a week (in jail) per man, woman and child that were hurt," Mr Deegan said today. "You get no closure out of this, it's absolutely insulting." Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty is warning that...

The United States said yesterday that it was "disappointed" and "disturbed" by the 2-1/2-year prison sentence a five-judge panel in Indonesia handed a Muslim cleric for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 persons, including seven Americans. Abu Bakar Bashir, who is thought to be the leader of the al Qaeda-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah, also was cleared of charges that he planned the 2003 suicide attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia. +snip+ Bashir had faced the death penalty over the Marriott bombing, in which 12 persons died. He also was accused of inciting his followers...

The Federal Government wants the prosecution to appeal against the jail sentence handed down to an Indonesian cleric convicted over the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians. Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who has been described as the spiritual leader of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), has been given a two-and-a-half year jail term. The chief Judge said Bashir had conspired with key bomber Amrozi over the attack. But the court found him not guilty of organising or inciting the Marriott Hotel bombings in Jakarta. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says the prosecution had hoped Bashir would serve...

ELEANOR HALL: While authorities in Indonesia deal with the tsunami disaster, the threat of terrorism continues, with bomb squads and anti-terror units in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, last night reinforcing the Thai and British embassies after receiving phone calls warning of an attack. The terrorism alert comes amid new revelations about the Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, who is alleged to have been behind the Bali bombings. At the trial of the cleric, it's been alleged that the United States asked the Indonesian Government if it could secretly arrest Mr Bashir and take him to a US prison for questioning....

John Kerry is showing us that he would have been a Jimmy Carter-like President, had he been elected. Playing kissy-face with Batthist dictator Bashir Assad in Damascus, Kerry said: >>>"I think we found a great deal of areas of mutual interest, some common concerns and some possibilities for initiatives that could be taken in the future to strengthening relationship between the U.S. and Syria," Kerry told reporters after meeting with al-Sharaa. "I can assure you that I leave here with a sense that we can improve our relationship. There are significant possibilities, particularly with the elections in Iraq and the...

EXTREMIST cleric Abu Bakar Bashir told a key Jemaah Islamiah operative that he had visited Osama bin Laden in his cave hideout in Afghanistan, a Jakarta court heard yesterday. In the first evidence of a direct link between the two men, the key prosecution witness, Nasir Abbas, told the court he had been with Bashir at a passing-out ceremony at a JI training camp in the southern Philippines, an event that is a central plank in the prosecution's case against Bashir. Abbas said he complained to Bashir about living conditions in the camp, where Bashir was visiting for 2-3 days...

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A key witness in the trial of Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has told a court that the ageing firebrand preacher was head of Jemaah Islamiah, a militant group seen as the Southeast Asian arm of al Qaeda. The 66-year old cleric dismissed the testimony, saying the group did not exist and he had never met the witness, Nasir Abbas, a Malaysian who claims to have been a Jemaah Islamiah instructor at a camp in the southern Philippines. Abbas said Bashir had given him funds for the "Udaibiyah" training camp and visited the facility in April 2000,...

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Fugitive al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden once invited Indonesian preacher Abu Bakar Bashir to live in Afghanistan, a young militant jailed over the bombing of a Jakarta hotel has told the cleric's terrorism trial. Witness Mohamad Rais said he gave a message to Bashir from bin Laden in 2001 after returning to Indonesia from two years of military training in Afghan militant camps. "If Bashir feels no longer comfortable here (in Indonesia), Osama asked Bashir to go there," Rais told the court on Thursday when asked by a judge what was the content of the message....

JAKARTA (Reuters) - The relatives of Indonesians killed in last year's bombing of a Jakarta hotel have recounted tales of horror as the trial of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, accused of leading al Qaeda's Asian arm, resumed. They were the first batch of witnesses called on Tuesday in a trial in which prosecutors are seeking to prove Bashir incited deadly attacks, including the suicide bombing of Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel in 2003 that killed 12 people, and nightclub bombings in Bali in 2002 that left 202 dead, mostly foreign tourists. Sri Lestari described how her husband, a Marriott hotel...