This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1455
More proof of the need for capitol punishment for terrorists
December 21, 2005
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17607307%255E2702,00.html
Murder 'infidels', Mukhlas urges
Sian Powell Jakarta correspondent
19dec05
BALI bombings commander Mukhlas has written a fanatical call-to-arms from his death-row prison cell, exhorting Muslims to kill Westerners.
Published on a website on the orders of notorious terror chief Noordin Mohammed Top, the polemic demonstrates the undiminished fervour of Mukhlas, who has been sentenced to death for commanding the Bali bomb blasts in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
"You who still have a shred of faith in your hearts, have you forgotten that to kill infidels and the enemies of Islam is a deed that has a reward above no other," says the 60-page polemic written in Indonesian by "Sheikh Mukhlas", posted on the anshar.net website, which has since been shut down by Indonesian police.
"Aren't you aware that the model for us all, the Prophet Mohammed and the four rightful caliphs, undertook to murder infidels as one of their primary activities, and that the Prophet waged jihad operations 77 times in the first 10 years as head of the Muslim community in Medina?"
The jihadist tract reportedly began its life in Bali's Kerobokan prison, where Mukhlas was jailed until recently.
It was passed to Top, a militant leader wanted for a string of attacks including the Bali bombings in 2002 and in October this year, the blasts at Jakarta's Marriott hotel and the Australian embassy. Top gave Mukhlas's tract to Javanese webmaster Abdul Aziz to post on the website, which began operating on August 30, according to the webmaster's lawyer, Mohammed Rifan.
"The essay was received by Abdul Aziz (the now detained webmaster) from Noordin on a disk," Mr Rifan said, adding that Top had originally approached Aziz to set up the website.
It remains unclear how Mukhlas bypassed jail security to send the polemic to Top, although Mr Rifan said a courier called Rino was sent by Top to the prison to see Mukhlas.
The revelations confirm there are continuing links between the jailed Bali bombers and their colleagues at large, and show Mukhlas remains an important figure in the terrorist movement.
Widely regarded as the most intellectual of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network militants, Mukhlas rationalises the use of terror and deplores the "hypocrisy" of non-violent Muslims in his polemic.
"What matters in this life is less important than what happens in the next," his tract says.
"We should live to love jihad and die as martyrs for Allah."
Despite his disdain for this world, Mukhlas's lawyers will seek a judicial review from Indonesia's Supreme Court, potentially stopping his death sentence from being carried out.
Before the website was shut down, it carried instructions on how to kill Westerners in Jakarta by using sniper tactics with guns and grenades.
The Indonesian police have called the website a "work of terror" and confirmed that Abdul Aziz was detained in connection with the site, and with the second Bali bombings in October.
Mukhlas's lawyer, Achmad Michdan, said it was unclear whether the essay was written by his client.
"If that is his writing, I don't believe it appeared there with his agreement," Mr Michdan said, claiming it was impossible for the work to have been written on a laptop or sent via a mobile phone.
"I asked for permission for him (to have a laptop), but no," Mr Michdan said.
Mukhlas, the elder brother of fellow Bali bombers Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Ali Imron, had already written 18 books in jail, Mr Michdan said.
Many prisoners in Indonesian jails have mobile phones, a fact that has led to calls for a crackdown on the practice.
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1455