Abu Bakar Bashir

[[File:Abu-Bakar-Baasyir-dipenjara.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Abu Bakar in 2015. Lovely bars you have there.]]{{Islam}}
{{cquote|Worms, snakes, maggots - those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali ... those infidel tourists. They are naked.}}

'''Abu Bakar Bashir''' {{lived|1938}} is an [[Extremism|extremist]] [[Indonesia]]n [[Muslim]] [[Priest|cleric]] and leader of {{wpl|Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid}}. For many years Bashir seemed able to avoid prison as if he were a Cosa Nostra boss despite mountains of evidence against him, but his luck finally ran out in 2011. 
Well into his late seventies, Bashir is currently incarcerated until 2026 and will die in prison unless he's very sprightly or [[Useful idiot|someone]] lets him out early.
Newsflash, Bashir was released from prison in 2018, by of all people, supposedly securalist {{wpl|Joko Widodo}} government.

==Background==
Bashir was born in Central Java in 1938. He was educated at an Islamic boarding school there before becoming active in various student groups. In the early 1970s, he founded the notorious Al-Mukim Islamic School, described by the {{wpl|International Crisis Group}} as the Ivy League for recruitment of Indonesian [[terrorists]]. Al-Mukim alumni include {{wpl|Riduan_Isamuddin|Hambali (Riduan Isamuddin)}}, described as the [[Osama Bin Laden]] of [[Southeast Asia]], and a long list of operatives linked to various terror attacks in Indonesia.<ref>[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-10912588 Profile: Abu Bakar Ba'asyir]</ref> 

He was first imprisoned from 1978 to 1982 for actively promoting [[sharia law]] in Indonesia and refusing to accept the [[secular]] nature of the nation as enshrined it its [[constitution]]. Upon release he exiled himself in [[Malaysia]] only returning to Indonesia in 1999, after the fall of the [[Suharto]] regime. Indonesian governments in the early [[Indonesia#Reformation_era|Reformation Era]] seemed to find it difficult to convict him of anything too serious, and he spent only relatively short periods in jail in 2003-2004 and again from  2005 to 2007. A request in 2002 from the [[US]] Government to [[Extraordinary rendition|render]] Bashir into their custody was denied by Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070224180048/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/02/clerics_trial_tests_us_antiterror_fight/ Cleric's trial tests US antiterror fight]</ref>

In 2008, Bashir formed the extreme Islamist group Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) and has been its leader ever since. He has though denied the very existence of the transnational extremist group {{wpl|Jemaah Islamiyah}}, let alone his own role as its spiritual leader as claimed by the United States.<ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0502/p07s01-woap.html Indonesian cleric fights for a Muslim state]</ref>.

What looked like being Bashir's final incarceration began in 2011 with a sentence of 15 years for setting up a [[Jihadist]] training camp in the semi-autonomous Indonesian province of Aceh.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/world/asia/17indonesia.html?_r=0 Indonesia Sentences a Radical Cleric to 15 Years]</ref>. However, news broke in October 2015 of a planned appeal on the grounds that he knew of the camp in Aceh but thought that it was for "marching training", and that the funds he provided were for the purchase of an "ambulance". <ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/24/abu-bakar-bashir-planning-legal-appeal-to-be-released-from-jail-lawyer Abu Bakar Bashir planning legal appeal to be released from jail – lawyer]</ref>. During a court hearing pertaining to this appeal in Jan 2016, Bashir's lawyers further claimed that he had donated 150 million rupiah for weapons and military training in Aceh to assist with the liberation of [[Palestine]] and not carry out terrorism acts in Indonesia.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/world/abu-bakar-bashir-says-he-was-supporting-palestine-not-terrrorism-20160112-gm4cra.html Abu Bakar Bashir says he was supporting Palestine not terrorism]</ref>. This hearing coincided with bomb attacks in Jakarta for which [[DAESH]] claimed responsibility and which we carried out by radicals thought to have previously been associated with Bashir's Jemaah Islamiyah group.

==Lunacy==
Bashir founded the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council (MMI), a coalition of extremist Islamist groups charged with promoting the implementation of sharia law in Indonesia. In a fit of megalomania, Abu Bakar took his ball home and did not want to play any more, resigning his position as the MMI supreme leader, arguing that the internal [[democratic]] structure of the group contradicted Islam.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130219232902/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/indonesia%e2%80%99s-case-against-abu-bakar-bashir Indonesia’s Case Against Abu Bakar Bashir]</ref>

In 2007, Bashir ranted that tourists in Bali were 'worms, snakes and maggots' with specific reference to the immorality of [[Australia]]n infidels.

From his prison cell in 2014 Bashir pledged allegiance to [[DAESH]] and its leader, [[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]]. 

===CIA set off a nuke in Bali===
To support his assertion that Jemaah Islamiyah never even existed, Bashir claims the [[CIA]] and [[Israel]] are behind all terror attacks in Indonesia including the {{wpl|2002 Bali bombings}}. Even after open confessions from the bombers (who were his former students), Bashir insisted that the CIA replaced the Bali bombs with a "micro-nuclear" weapon.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bashir-blames-bali-on-cia--bomb/2006/08/29/1156816891620.html CIA used 'micro nuclear' bomb in Bali: Bashir]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakar Bashir, Abu}}
[[Category:Convicted felons]]
[[Category:Indonesia]]
[[Category:Islamic extremism]]
[[Category:Islamic fundamentalism]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Muslims]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]

Categories: Convicted felons, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic fundamentalism, Living people, Muslims, Terrorists