Freedom to Preach Hate From Prison Cell

It is visiting hour at Salemba Prison and the most famous inmate in Cellblock A sits on a sheet of vinyl on the concrete floor, holding court.

Surrounded by a dozen followers, assistants and journalists, Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir expounds on the views that helped land him in prison and demonstrates that being behind bars is no impediment to spreading his message of holy war.

“As long as America has the intention of waging war with Islam,” he says, “it is a must for Muslims all over the world to defend themselves against America’s attack.”

Bashir’s freedom to promote his views from prison has riled Western officials who believe he is a dangerous terrorist. He has done so many interviews from prison on his mobile telephone that he has given new meaning to the term “cellphone.” He has people to run errands for him on the outside, a servant on the inside and a shady spot in the prison courtyard for himself and his guests.

The 65-year-old cleric, who has served nearly 18 months for immigration violations, is accused of being the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, a terrorist network affiliated with Al Qaeda that has carried out dozens of bombings and killed hundreds of people in Southeast Asia.

At least 23 of Bashir’s followers -- most of them graduates of an Islamic boarding school he founded in Central Java -- have been arrested or are wanted for their alleged involvement in the bombings, including the suicide attack on Bali nightclubs in 2002 that killed 202 people.

He is due to be released at the end of the month, and police are scrambling to find evidence to bring charges against him under an anti-terrorism law that was enacted the day before his arrest.

With his April 30 release date looming and police investigating his case with renewed vigor, Bashir was careful not to stir up new controversy during an interview last week. Impeccably dressed as usual in a white shirt, white scarf, checked lavender sarong and small cloth cap, Bashir said he believed Iraq had become the center of a worldwide jihad to defend Islam.

“America’s aim in attacking Iraq is to attack Islam,” he said, “so it is justified for Muslims to target America to defend themselves.”

Western diplomats complain that the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri is treating Bashir gingerly out of a misguided fear that Muslims might turn against the president’s party during this year’s elections.

“We find it hard to believe that he is making pronouncements to the press -- in support of terrorists -- from his prison cell,” said a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States and other foreign governments allege that Bashir inspired his followers to carry out deadly bombings in the Philippines and Indonesia. Several of those arrested have testified that that they belonged to Jemaah Islamiah and that Bashir was the group’s spiritual leader. Police say they seized a letter last year signed by two midlevel leaders of the group identifying Bashir as the network’s “emir.”

Bashir denies he is a terrorist and maintains that Jemaah Islamiah does not exist. He says Washington wants to destroy Islam and is leaning on Indonesia to keep him locked up because his teachings present an obstacle to the U.S. plan of world domination. The testimony against him from former followers, he says, is the product of police intimidation. He says he knows of no letter identifying him as emir.

“I think the police are trying to keep me in jail longer because they received pressure from America’s and Australia’s governments,” said Bashir, chairman of the Indonesian Mujahedin Council, which advocates the adoption of strict Islamic law. “The reason America wants me to stay in jail is because they are afraid of my preaching, not because of some bombing.”

Sending Bashir to prison has lessened his influence on the outside, but he still has plenty of opportunities to spread his message. Prison officials allow him to teach a class on Islam to fellow inmates four times a week. About 100 prisoners attend each session.

Family members, supporters and assistants visit him nearly every day at the central Jakarta prison. His visitors are free to give messages to the cleric and to take instructions to his supporters on the outside.

“My life here is fine,” says Bashir, who has his own cell with a radio and small television. “I can carry out my praying easily, and I am able to teach some religion to the prisoners here.”

The grandfatherly cleric has drawn fire in the past by praising Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and offering justification of violent attacks on non-Muslims.

“Osama bin Laden is a fighter who upholds Islam,” Bashir said in an interview with The Times shortly before the Bali bombing. “I praise Osama bin Laden’s fight. I pray that Allah will help him.”

But last week, in a rare criticism of fellow militants, Bashir said the Bali bombing, which killed mostly foreign tourists, was wrong because it occurred in a peaceful country.

Bashir initially blamed the blast on the CIA. But now that some of his followers have confessed to the bombing, he says that it was motivated by a desire to protect Islam and strike at America.

“I agree with the goal, because it is in line with the religion,” he said. “But the method -- bombing a country that is in a safe condition and not under attack by America -- I think it’s not right.”

Hasyim Abdullah, treasurer of Bashir’s Mujahedin Council, is posted outside Salemba Prison every day to run errands for the cleric, buy his food and help his friends and lawyers get in to see him. Bashir’s guests often go straight to the head of the long line of visitors waiting to enter the prison.

Inside, Bashir has recruited several inmates to help him, including a petty criminal who has become the cleric’s servant, washing his clothes and cooking his meals without pay.

A convicted forger named Bintang Putra has become Bashir’s English translator. Putra, 22, said Bashir was free to proselytize in prison, but that he had never heard the cleric advocate violence. Putra said he did not believe it possible that the kindly, white-bearded preacher was a terrorist.

“If he wants to influence the people here, it is very easy,” Putra said. “There are many uneducated people. But I’ve never heard any extreme teaching from him. I think it is not very like him to make a lethal action to destroy another human being.”

Putra said that meeting Bashir changed his life and that he is now trying to become a good Muslim. It did not seem to bother Putra when Bashir swatted his arm and chastised him for shaking the hand of a female visitor -- a practice forbidden under some interpretations of the Koran.

“Before I met him, my life was just for having fun, to spend a lot of money without any plan for my future,” the forger said. “But now I have to think twice before I make my next step.”

This is not the first time Bashir has been in prison. The cleric was convicted of treason in 1978 and served four years during the authoritarian regime of President Suharto. Facing the prospect of returning to prison in 1985, he fled to Malaysia.

In Malaysia, authorities say, he began building Jemaah Islamiah with other extremists, including an Indonesian cleric known as Hambali, allegedly a top figure in Al Qaeda. Bashir returned to Indonesia in 1999 after Suharto stepped down.

Jemaah Islamiah began its terrorist campaign in 2000. Police say Bashir gave his blessing to the bombing of crowded churches across Indonesia on Christmas Eve that killed 19 people and injured more than 100. Hambali allegedly organized the bombings, relying on followers recruited through religious classes.

Two years later, some of the same people were arrested in the Bali bombing -- a watershed event in Indonesia that began turning public sentiment against extremist Islam.

Last year, authorities broke up a Jemaah Islamiah cell in Pakistan that had been set up to train future leaders of the organization. Among the members were Bashir’s son, Abdul Rahim, and Hambali’s younger brother, Rusman Gunawan.

Bashir was arrested a week after the Bali attack, but police have had trouble making charges stick. He was found guilty of treason and immigration violations, but last month the Supreme Court ruled the treason conviction invalid and reduced his sentence to 18 months.

One of the difficulties in convicting Bashir is that some of the most damaging witnesses against him are in custody in other countries, and Indonesian courts do not give much credence to their testimony.

Indonesian officials say they are seeking evidence to prosecute Bashir again. But they complain that Washington is pressuring them to keep him in prison while withholding information that would make his prosecution possible.

In investigating Bashir, Indonesian authorities have repeatedly sought access to Hambali, who was arrested in Thailand in August and handed over to the United States. He is being held in an undisclosed location.

They argue that Hambali -- an Indonesian accused of plotting the murder of hundreds of people in Indonesia -- should be made available to Indonesian investigators. But Washington has refused to let Indonesian police see him, saying that his continuing interrogation is a delicate operation that cannot be interrupted.

The United States recently gave Indonesia hundreds of pages of reports from Hambali’s interrogation, but Ansyaad Mbai, the top anti-terrorism official in Indonesia’s security ministry, said the files were not enough without the chance to question Hambali.

“They [U.S. officials] are very eager, and they pushed us and were disappointed when Abu Bakar Bashir was given a light sentence,” Mbai said. “But to prove that Abu Bakar Bashir is guilty of terrorist acts, direct interrogation of Hambali is the key.”

U.S. officials contend that Indonesia is overstating the importance of testimony from Hambali and that police already have enough evidence to convict Bashir on terrorism charges.

“Nobody is denying the Indonesian claim on Hambali, but if they think he’s the silver bullet, that’s extremely unlikely,” the senior U.S. official said. “The guy is not exactly spilling his guts.”

Since the Bali bombing, Indonesia has arrested 116 suspected members of Jemaah Islamiah. Judges have convicted 29 for the Bali bombing, including three who were sentenced to death. But U.S. officials warn that Indonesia’s reputation for fighting terrorism would be seriously damaged if Bashir was freed.

“It’s a question of political will, and this is going to be a litmus test,” said the U.S. official. “They could handle it in a way that shows they don’t have the political will to go after terrorists, and unfortunately all their gains will be lost.”