Bashir calls bombers 'counter-terrorists'

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21973518-23109,00.html

From correspondents in Jakarta

June 26, 2007 07:57pm

Article from: Agence France-Presse
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HARDLINE Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir said today that extremists blamed for Indonesian bombings were role models for other Muslims and feted them as "counter-terrorists."

"There are no terrorists in Indonesia. What there are, are counter-terrorists," Bashir said.

"The aims and sacrifices of the bombers, in their efforts to defend Islam and Muslims in making war against the real terrorist - that is, the United States of America and its allies - need to be taken as a model," Bashir said.

The firebrand 68-year-old bearded cleric gained notoriety after the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali, which killed 202 people.

He was jailed for nearly 26 months for a role in the attacks, but his conviction was overturned in December, to the outrage of victims' families.

"I agree with their (the bombers') aims to defend Islam and Muslims, I agree with their hopes of enforcing Sharia - but I do not agree with the methods they used," he said.

Bashir said militants erred by using "bombs in areas of peace, not in areas of armed conflict," repeating a position he has taken in the past.

But he called on Indonesian Muslims to refrain from accusing people of terrorism, saying it would be tantamount to assisting the US.

Bashir spoke at a press conference to announce plans, together with 13 lawyers from the "Team for the Defence of Muslims," to file a suit demanding that Indonesia's counter-terrorism police unit be disbanded.

The team of lawyers has provided defence counsel for several militant suspects.

Lawyer Munarman alleged that the counter-terrorism squad was financed opaquely by the US, sought to make war against Islam and used torture to secure admissions from suspects.

He also said that the squad was discriminatory as it only acted against Muslims, adding the team planned to file the suit on tomorrow at the South Jakarta district court.

Bashir has redoubled his efforts to get Sharia law enforced in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, since his release from prison.

He was named as the former amir of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional extremist network blamed for a string of bombings including the Bali attacks, by Abu Dujana, the head of JI's military wing.

Dujana was caught by police earlier this month, but Bashir has denied his claim.

The vast majority of Muslims in Indonesia, a nation of 232 million people, practice a very tolerant form of the religion and are highly critical of Bashir's position.


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"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.