NASIR ABAS DISCUSSES HIS APPEAL FOR UN DELISTING

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 009045

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, S/CT, DS/IP/EAP, DS/DSS/ITA, DS/CC
DOJ FOR CTS THORNTON, AAG SWARTZ
FBI FOR ETTIU/SSA ROTH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2016
TAGS: PTER ASEC EFIN KCRM KHLS KPAO KVPR CVIS KISL
AS, ID
SUBJECT: NASIR ABAS DISCUSSES HIS APPEAL FOR UN DELISTING

REF: JAKARTA 07397

Classified By: Classified by Political Officer David Willis for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) Summary. Per REFTEL, former terrorist Nasir Abas, now
a key CT asset of the Indonesian National Police (INP),met
with Embassy officers in Jakarta on June 4 and discussed his
request to be removed from the U.S. and U.N. lists of
designated terrorists. The following additional details of
Abas' meeting with Embassy officers were requested by
Washington agencies handling his appeal. End Summary.


2. (S) At the REFTEL June 4 meeting, Abas, who was casually
dressed and generally relaxed throughout the discussion,
presented Embassy officers with a one-page letter dated 03
June 2006, addressed to Ambassador Pascoe and signed by Abas,
requesting his name be removed from the U.S. and U.N. lists
of designated terrorists. The letter was accompanied by a
three-page, 88-item list entitled, "Nasir Abas's Activities,"
beginning with his 2003 arrest and ending with a May 17, 2006
JI presentation to the Jambi police department.


3. (S) Abas told us his original attraction to JI was its
development of a cadre of Muslim reservists, trained and
prepared to defend the Islamic community. His early training
and service in Afghanistan in the late 1980s, while he was
still in his late teens, and his later years of training in
the Southern Philippines were based on that original
idealistic view. However, he said, he never believed Muslims
in the region were under threat and, even as a camp trainer,
he never believed attacks against targets in the region could
be justified. He said that then, like now, he believed the
countries of Southeast Asia could be seen as "Islamic
states," since Muslims were free to practice their religion
moderately or conservatively, based on their own beliefs,
without interference.


4. (S) When appointed head of JI's Mantiqi III in 2002, Abas
said, he had become increasingly uncomfortable with Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir and Hambali's support of violent attacks. Abas
explained that by this time Hambali had a history of leading
attacks from Mantiqi I, and added that he suspected Ba'asyir
may have agreed to the 2001 Christmas Eve bombings and
possibly the 2002 Bali bombings. Also by this time,
then-Mantiqi II leader Achmad Roihan was supporting the
violence in Sulawesi and the Molukkus. Sometime in 2002-03,
Abas continued, Ba'asyir accepted Al Qaeda's fatwas and
ordered JI's mantiqi leaders to teach them to the membership.
Abas told us he refused Ba'asyir's order and said no attacks
were carried out in Mantiqi III while he was its leader.


5. (S) Abas said that he was not aware of plans for the 2002
Bali operation and was stunned at the news of the attacks,
though he provided some protection to Bali planner Ali
Ghufron (aka Mukhlas) after the October 2002 attacks. (Note:
Mukhlas, who succeeded Hambali as leader of Mantiqi I, was
married to Abas' younger sister, Faridah (also Paridah),with
whom Mukhlas had six children. In later discussions after
our initial June 4 meeting, Abas told us he was likewise
linked to convicted JI member Syamsul Bahri. Abas also told
us he had three brothers in Singapore and two brothers in
Malaysia. Of the brothers in Singapore, Hashim Abas was held
by Singapore authorities.


6. (S) Disenchanted with the direction of JI, Abas told us
his April 2003 arrest had come as a relief. (Note: During
discussions with the INP a few days after this June 4
meeting, the CT investigators who had arrested Abas confirmed
this apparent state of mind at the time of his arrest and
noted his immediate willingness to cooperate.)


7. (S) Abas said his wife, originally from Sandakan (Sabah),
now lived in Johor Bahru, Malaysia with their four children,
Husna (8),Hidaya (7),Hamida (5),and Hanifa (3). If
successfully delisted, Abas told us he wanted to return to
Malaysia to spend time with his family, reassert his
Malaysian citizenship, and reobtain a Malaysian passport. He
said he expected the Royal Malaysian Police Special Branch to
detain him for 30-60 days upon his arrival in Malaysia. Over
the longer term, he said, he planned to return regularly to

JAKARTA 00009045 002 OF 002


Indonesia to continue his work with the INP.
PASCOE