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