AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Friday December 27, 2002
Indonesian magazine names terror suspect Bashir "Man of the
Year"
An Indonesian Islamic magazine has named detained terror suspect Abu Bakar
Bashir "Man of the Year" for what it calls his steadfast struggle to uphold Islamic law
in Indonesia.
Bi-weekly magazine Sabili, one of the best-selling in Indonesia, said Bashir is an
exemplary figure who never flinched from his stuggle to uphold Islamic law, or sharia,
despite persecution.
"Bashir is a person we should look up to," the magazine said in its editorial.
"If Bashir, most of whose entire life has been devoted to upholding Islamic sharia,
should be called a terrorist, being terrorists might as well be our goal," it said.
Bashir's picture adorned the magazine's cover along with a banner reading "Ustadz
Ba'asyir. Fighting Hostile Unbelievers."
Bashir, 64, has been detained since October 20 as a suspect in a series of church
bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 and in a plot to assassinate Megawati Sukarnoputri
before she became president.
He was arrested after Omar al-Faruq, an alleged al-Qaeda operative in US custody,
implicated him in terrorist operations in Indonesia.
Malaysia and Singapore say Bashir is spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah(JI)
regional terror network, widely suspected of a role in the October 12 Bali bombings
that killed more than 190 people.
Sabili called the accusations against Bashir "slanderous."
Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved.
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