| Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? I know... Floored me, too. |
DENPASAR: The Bali bombers were inspired by an edict issued by Osama bin Laden, according to a witness statement read to an Indonesian court on Thursday. Prosecutors in the trial of key Bali suspect Imam Samudra read the statement from another top suspect Wan Min bin Wan Mat, who is detained in Malaysia. Wan Min said he believed the bombings were intended as a "warning for foreigners — Americans and Australians who are setting their feet in Bali and who are infidels and enemies of Islam." He said the blasts were carried out "as a fatwa (edict) issued by Osama bin Laden and this was based on sermons by JI leaders such as Hambali between 1999 and 2000."
| Ummm... Binny's not even an Islamic scholar. He's a guy with a lot of money and some gunnies. He's not qualified to issue fatwas, though if he was that's the sort of fatwa he'd issue... |
Wan Min admitted he had sent 30,500 dollars in three instalments to Mukhlas to finance "operations in Indonesia as previously planned" in Bangkok. He said he had no idea what the money would be used for and was only carrying out orders by Hambali and Mukhlas. Wan Min said he had known Samudra since 1995 and Samudra had often visited Mukhlas at the Lukmanul Hakim Islamic boarding school in Malaysia's Johor state. |