SENIOR JI OPERATIVES RENDERED FROM MALAYSIA TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000770 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, S/CT, DS/ICI/RFJ, DS/IP/EAP, DS/DSS/ITA, DS/CC, DS/IP/SC DOJ FOR CTS THORNTON, AAG SWARTZ DOJ/OPDAT FOR LEHMANN, ALEXANDRE, BERMAN DOJ/CTS FOR MULANEY, ST. HILARE FBI FOR ITOSI, SSA SOLOMON NSC FOR E. PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/17/2018 TAGS: PGOV PINS PTER PREL ID MY SUBJECT: SENIOR JI OPERATIVES RENDERED FROM MALAYSIA TO INDONESIA REF: A. JAKARTA 602 ¶B. JAKARTA 295 Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b+d). ¶1. (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Kuala Lumpur and Consulate Medan. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: Malaysian authorities have handed over two senior Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) operatives to the GOI. The two Indonesian nationals were arrested in Malaysia in January. The GOI is in the process of interrogating the two. In other CT news, the three Bali bombers on death row have reportedly refused to request clemency. That removes a final obstacle to their execution, though a date certain for that has not yet been set. Finally, a court has sentenced a JI-linked extremist who bombed a church in North Sumatra to seven years confinement. END SUMMARY. RENDERED TO INDONESIA ¶3. (C) Two JI members have been rendered from Malaysia to Indonesia. The two men arrested in Malaysia in January are: Abdur Rahim bin Thoyib and Dr. Agus Purwantoro. Both men are Indonesian nationals and were arrested by Malaysian authorities for planning to travel to Syria using false passports. Malaysian police have asserted that Agus admitted to attempting to travel to Syria to meet with members of an unspecified terrorist group. According to local media reports, the Malaysian authorities contacted the Indonesian National Police (INP) about the two after initial interrogations. The INP sent senior officers to Malaysia to bring the men back to Jakarta for further interrogation. The two have been held in Indonesian police custody since March ¶28. Under Indonesian law, they can be held without formal charge for up to 60 days. ¶4. (C) These are senior terrorists. Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group (a well-known JI expert and Amcit--please protect) had the following comments: -- Abdur Rahim bin Thoyib alias Abu Husna is the head of "education" for JI and a senior member of the organization. Thoyib heads a JI faction that believes it must remain clandestine--anyone who has been arrested and exposed cannot assume, or reassume--a leadership role in the group. He is believed to be opposed to working with above ground organizations such as MMI (a JI-linked political organization),putting him at odds, at least on this issue, with Abu Bakar Ba,asyir, the co-founder and spiritual leader of JI. -- Dr. Agus Purwantoro alias Agus Idrus alias Makbul is suspected of being a senior operative linked to the JI's cell in Poso, central Sulawesi. He is reputedly one of JI's best bomb makers. Jones also stated that he is a medical doctor, trained in Indonesia. He has been a member of radical Islamic groups since 1992. He apparently trained with JI in the Philippines in 1999 and again in 2001. After the arrests of JI members in 2003 made it unsafe for him to stay in East Java, he fled to Poso. He reportedly became the JI cell leader there in 2006. Agus reported directly to senior leaders Abu Dujana and Zarkasih (both of whom were arrested by the INP last year). NO TO CLEMENCY ¶5. (SBU) In other CT-related news, the three JI terrorists JAKARTA 00000770 002 OF 002 on death row for carrying out the 2002 Bali bombing will apparently not seek clemency from the President. The Chief Prosecutor in Bali reported on April 14 that he had received a letter written by the three men--Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufon aka "Muklas"--stating formally that they would not seek clemency. In March, lawyers for the three withdrew their request for a second judicial review (ref A),leaving clemency their only legal avenue to escape execution. It is still possible for family members of the three to request clemency on their behalf. Barring such a request, the GOI should be able to proceed with the executions, though a date certain has not yet been set. CHURCH BOMBER CONVICTED ¶6. (C) There is more news regarding JI. A court in Medan, North Sumatra, has convicted Indra Warman aka Toni Togar for carrying out a bombing attack on a Medan church in August ¶2000. A graduate of the Al-Mukmin boarding school run by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir in Nguki, Central Java, Warman had connections to several top JI leaders, including Hambali, Noordin M. Top and Bali bomber Imam Samudra. Warman has been imprisoned since 2003, when he was sentenced to 13 years for the robbery of Lippo Bank in Medan. Proceeds from the robbery were used to support JI activities, and may have helped finance the August 2003 J.W. Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta. HUME