Senior members of radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir’s latest group covertly support violent jihad and maintain ties to fugitive extremists, a report has found.
Bashir founded Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) in mid-2008 as an ostensibly above-ground organisation, but the group has a hidden darker side, the International Crisis Group (ICG) report says.
“JAT has a public face, advocating full implementation of Islamic law, condemning democracy as illegitimate and preaching jihad,” said senior ICG adviser Sidney Jones.
“That face gives plausible deniability to the involvement of senior JAT officials in more covert activities.”
Bashir spent several years in prison for his involvement with JI but was released in 2006.
But allegations that JAT officials helped finance a terrorist training camp uncovered in Aceh earlier this year has led to speculation police will arrest the 72-year-old Bashir once again.
Bashir’s complete decision-making authority within JAT means it’s unlikely any of his senior officials would become involved in clandestine activities without his approval, the report says.
While Bashir and JAT have repeatedly stressed they are only involved in legal activities they have from the beginning played “very close to the edge” by enlisting men previously involved in violence.
