08 March 2011

By Al-Ikhwah Al-Mujahidun

In the reading of indictment by the JPU (public prosecutor) in the District Court of South Jakarta, there are a series of charges imposed on Ustadz Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, including the allegation of approving and financing the military training in Aceh. The Amir of the Jama'ah Ansarut Tauhid (JAT) is also charged with carrying out provocations to commit terror.

According to the JPU, Ustadz Abu was involved in the planning, physical preparation of the human resources and collecting money, among others through Thoyib, Dr. Syarif Usman, Hariyadi Usman, Abdul Hakim, Uqbah, Afif Abdul Majid, Abdul Haris, Yudo and Ubaid, in the amount of +Rp. 1,039,500,000. Such amount of money was used to purchase firearms and ammunitions and to finance the military training activities in Aceh.

Other charges by the JPU are, Ustadz Abu is believed to have carried out incitements and provocations to commit terror (irhab), and the firearms which were purchased as a result of the fund-raising, were used by the participants of the military training for conducting attacks against police officers in some public places, like the attack in the Kurnia public bus on the highway in front of the Leupung police station.

The participants of the military training also conducted an armed assault against police officials in the region of Lamkabeu, located adjacent to the residential settlement, which have caused casualties and injuries on the police officials, and committed armed robbery in the Newnet internet cafe and Bank CIMB Niaga Medan, which caused the atmosphere of terror or fear.

Military Training

The 93-pages indictment mentioned that Ustadz Abu played his role in the approval of the military training in Aceh. In February 2009, Joko Pitono alias Dulmatin expressed to Ubaid his wish (member of the Shura council of JAT) to meet with Ustadz Abu. With Umar Burhanudin as the intermediary, a meeting between Dulmatin and Ustadz Abu was held in a shop owned by Ali Miftah (not far from Al-Mukmin Ngruki Islamic Boarding School).

Ustadz Abu and Dulmatin, JPU said, were planning to conduct military training (Tadrib Ashkari) in Aceh. Ustadz Abu requested Ubaid to conduct military training in Aceh according to what was proposed by Dulmatin, by asking Ubaid to discuss it with Muzayyin alias Mustaqim (Hisbah Chariman of Central JAT).

As a follow-up of the planning of a military training in Aceh, a meeting between Ustadz Abu, Muzayyin and Ubaid was held. Ustadz Abu asked for Muzayyin's opinion, where he then proposed for Abu Tholut to be involved due to his vast experiences. The proposal was eventually approved by Ustadz Abu.

Two days later, a meeting between Abu Tholut and Muzayyin was held in the complex of Al-Mukmin Ngruki Ponpes (traditional Islamic boarding school). When asked for his readiness to become the accountable leader of the ashkari training program in Aceh, Abu Tholut stated his readiness. Abu Tholut then met Dulmatin at Abdul Hamid's house in Ngruki.

March 2009, Ubaid was picked up by Dulmatin at the Lebak Bulus Terminal where they later headed for Warsito's residence in Ciputat to discuss about the survey of the training site in Aceh and the needed funds i.e. around Rp. 15 millions. The next day, Dulmatin, Ubaid and Abu Tholut talked about the plan for the survey of the military training site in Aceh. Abu Tholut requested Ubaid to meet Ustadz Abu to ask for the funding of the survey in Aceh.

In Ngruki, Ubaid met Ustadz Abu to convey the message from Dulmatin who requested a financial support of Rp. 15 millions, in accordance with the result of the meeting between Ubaid, Abu Tholut and Dulmatin in Ciputat. Consequently, Ustadz Abu agreed for the survey of the military training site in Aceh to be done by giving money in the sum of Rp. 5,000,000, and then asked Ubaid to meet Joko Daryono alias Thoyib (Treasurer of Central JAT) in Surakarta to ask for additional funds amounting to Rp. 10,000,000.

The money was brought by Ubaid to Jakarta after being picked up by Dulmatin. Next, Dulmatin requested Abu Tholut to come to the Soekarno-Hatta Airport. And then the three of them (Dulmatin, Ubaid and Abu Tholut) departed for Aceh using the Lion Air aircraft, bringing the Rp.15,000,000. At that time, Abu Tholut was using the name Ibnu Muhammad, Ubaid used Luthfi Haidaroh and Dulmatin used the name Yahya Ibrahim.

Upon arriving at the Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport Banda Aceh, Ubaid, Dulmatin and Abu Tholut were picked up by Yudi Zulkfahri where they then headed for the office of Yayasan As-Sofa. In the afternoon, a meeting chaired by Abu Tholut was held, attended by Dulmatin, Tengku Marzuki, Ustadz Kamal, Yudi Zulfahri, Ali Miftah, Ubaid and a few others. In that meeting, Abu Tholut inquired Yudi about the condition of Aceh, whether Aceh was suitable to be made as a jihad arena, which he responded in the positive.

After the meeting, Ubaid along with Abu Tholut and Dulmatin conducted a survey in the mountains of Jantho, Aceh Besar, guided by Tengku Marzuki. In short, the result of the survey was agreed upon by Abu Tholut. After the survey, Ubaid, Dulmatin and Abu Tholut returned to Jakarta.

Accused of Incitements

In July 2009, Ustadz Abu was accused of committing instigations or provocations during a lecture at the house of Alex (alias Asep alias Ginawan) – Ashkari Leader of JAT for the Wilayah of North Sumatera - in Stabat, Langkat Province, North Sumatera. The lecture was attended by Alex, Khairul Ghazali, Alidian alias Ajo and dozens other jama'ahs from Medan.

The JPU questioned the lecture of Ustadz Abu who according to them had said that in conducting jihad, first, we must have a wilayah (territory) no matter how small, where we must have the complete control over the territory. Therefore, the first step that we must do is searching for the area or location that we can use as a base, markaz or a place of hijrah.

Ustadz Abu explained, if we have found the place, we can carry out jihad as a whole, where we can master and control the place. Ustadz Abu also said that fa'i (robbery to seek for the funding of the struggle) is among the justified means in Islam, but before conducting fa'i, first, the people have to be killed, so that their wealth can be acquired. Not merely taking the properties. This fa'i is aimed at all the kafir people, namely the people who are out of Islam and the rulers or government governments who are Muslim but are not applying the Islamic Shari'ah (thagut).

To acquire the wilayah of hijrah or Qaidah Aminah or mahjar (destination of hijrah), Ustadz Abu said that it is by conducting surveys to find a place which enables the performance and training of the ikhwans on whom the ‘idad and tadrib ashkari (preparation and military exercises) are to be prepared for the operations of jihad.

Ustadz Abu also said that the kafir who become the enemies of Islam are the people who are waging war and hostile to Islam openly and patently. Their characteristic is that they do not want this country to become a State where the Islamic Shar'ah is established. This characteristic is enough reason for us to fight them (America, Jews and their allies, Christians and governmental authorities who are Muslim but not implementing the Shari'ah of Islam).