The Indonesian cleric, involved in the Bali bombings, is unlikely to return to being a key player in terrorist plotting but his status as an extremist icon will endure.
Muslim Cleric Tied to Bali Nightclub Bombing Is Freed From Prison
Abu Bakar Bashir, 82, the spiritual leader of an extremist group that bombed churches, hotels and a Bali nightclub in the 2000s, is released after 10 years behind bars.
Abu Bakar Bashir, center, at Gunung Sindur prison in Bogor, Indonesia, in 2019.Credit.Antara Foto/Reuters
Published Jan. 7, 2021Updated Jan. 11, 2021
BANGKOK One of Indonesia’s most notorious terrorists, the Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, was released from prison on Friday after serving more than 10 years of a 15-year sentence for helping establish a terrorist training camp.
Mr. Bashir, 82, is the co-founder and former spiritual leader of a clandestine terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, that carried out a series of deadly attacks in the 2000s, including the Bali nightclub bombing in 2002 that killed 202 people, many of them Australian tourists.
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On December 30, Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s government moved to ban the Islamic Defenders Front (Front Pembela Islam, FPI), one of the most prominent hardline Islamist groups in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. The ban was just the latest in a series of moves that were expected following the return of its head Islamic cleric Rizieq Shihab from self-exile in Saudi Arabia. While the step has understandably raised concerns on various counts domestically including the state of the country’s democracy, it also once again spotlights the trajectory of political Islam in Indonesia more generally.
Despite the common use of the term “political Islam,” it remains difficult to assess its exact impact and account for the full diversity of experiences across the Muslim world. The headlines tend to focus on the cases where specific Islamic groups either turn to violence or score electoral victories – be it the Islamic State and its v