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| Southeast Asia |
| Four detained Malaysians confess to JI membership |
| 2004-04-01 |
| Four Malaysians detained in Indonesia for activities linked to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) are expected to give their confessions in a special report over TV3 tomorrow at 8.30pm. The four include one of JI's former top leaders, Mohamed Nasir Abbas. He, together with Amran Mansor, Jaafar Anwarul and Shamsul Bahri Husein are now held in an Indonesian jail, waiting to face charges. TV3's one-hour special, titled ‘Confession of JI Members' will focus on their involvement in the organisation. But they also said they no longer subscribe to JI beliefs and that they were misled into embracing the fanatical Islamic ideology by JI leaders. TV3 director of news and current affairs Datuk Kamarulzaman Zainal told The Malay Mail yesterday: "The report is to give viewers an insight into JI and its former members who have renounced the organisation's ideology. "The report tells how the JI network went about their activities and lured its members into following some of the fatwa (decrees) imposed by fanatical leaders such as Osama bin Laden, the head of Al-Qaeda." The special report would also have the men confessing their association with Hambali, the top JI leader who is said to have links with al-Qaeda, and Imam Samudra and Mukhlas, both of whom were responsible for the Bali bombings which killed 202 people in October 2002. The interviews, done by the TV3 crew, were held at the Indonesian police headquarters in Jakarta on March 11. Amran said he was "disillusioned with the organisation when he found their bombs had killed children, women and many Muslims". Nasir, who was arrested in April last year, said he regretted his involvement in the organisation and wanted to return to society. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |