Ba'asyir draws fellow inmates
By Amy Chew for CNN
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Ba'asyir was sentenced in September to four years in prison.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the Indonesian Muslim cleric believed by some to be the spiritual leader of regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), seems to be wooing his fellow inmates.
In a prison in Jakarta, some 500 prisoners shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) as the 65-year-old Ba'asyir spoke during a breaking of the fast that is part of Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.
"Live an honorable life. Fight until this country is governed by shariah (Islamic) law," Ba'asyir told the audience.
Ba'asyir has been at Jakarta's Salemba prison for five months. Before that, he was held at the national police headquarters, but he asked to be moved because of his proximity there to women and to Maluku separatist leaders.
He was sentenced in September to four years in prison for plotting to overthrow the government. Ba'asyir is appealing that sentence.
But he was cleared of primary charges of involvement in terrorism and of leading JI, the Southeast Asian arm of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.
Indonesian police have blamed JI for funding and planning last year's devastating Bali bombings which killed 202 people, and the Jakarta Marriott Hotel bombing last August in which 12 people died.
Since entering prison, prison officials say, Ba'asyir has been teaching his fellow prisoners how to read the Quran (Koran) at the penitentiary's mosque.
Several journalists, along with Ba'asyir's lawyers and sympathizers, were allowed to attend a recent breaking of the fast and to chat with Ba'asyir.
Dressed in his usual shirt, sarong and Muslim cap, Ba'asyir was cheerful and appeared to be in good health.
"Thanks be to God, I am well-treated here both by Muslims and non-Muslims," he told CNN.
"He teaches the prisoners how to read the Quran. There is nothing radical in his teachings," prison official Arif Gunawan said
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Ba'asyir to the U.S.: "It is much better to make peace."
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But Gunawan added that out of a total prison population of 2,700, Ba'asyir has been able to draw 400 to 500 people -- many more than other clerics who have taught in the prison.
"I guess that's because he is charismatic and well-known; therefore he is able to draw many people to him," Gunawan told CNN.
Ba'asyir's prison audience appear to hold him with the same reverence as his students from the Al Mukmin religious boarding school at Nguruki in Central Java. Indonesian prosecutors say the leading figures in the Bali bombings were all graduates of Ba'asyir's school.
However, Ba'asyir rejects the idea that his former students were terrorists.
"Maybe the steps taken by them (the bombings) were not exactly right, but they are not terrorists. They are mujahids (warriors of God). They were attacking American interests, defending themselves and defending Islam," he said.
He said the United States is an enemy because it sides with Israel in what he called the oppression of Palestine. As well, he said, the U.S. has also attacked Afghanistan and Iraq.
"For me, fighting America is the ultimate law, compulsory in Indonesia. But my concept is to break off diplomatic ties with America. Even though this may not change its foreign policies, it will give it less room to bully Indonesia," he said.
Ba'asyir said what he calls the "imperialistic" foreign policy of the United States would end up destroying it.
"This is already in the Quran and I have once written to Bush warning him not to kill Muslims. He (Bush) may be able to kill the followers of Islam but he can never kill Islam.
"My message to America is: the country must repent, stop being enemies with Islam. It is much better to make peace," said Ba'asyir.
