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