Hasan di Tiro, 72 and ailing, is revered in Aceh, an Indonesian province whose separatist guerrillas take cues from him in exile.
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Passion from afar
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In Sweden, a Sultan of Rebellion. Hasan di Tiro has many titles. Prince. Sultan. Guardian of the State. He is the Tengku, the hereditary leader of the fierce Acehnese people who, as he once wrote, would choose death over surrender. What his royal highness doesn’t have is a country to rule. Now 72, Di Tiro lives in this suburb of Stockholm, where he is the leader of Acehnese guerrillas fighting and dying in the Indonesian jungle 5,400 miles away. More than anyone else, he is responsible for igniting Asia’s longest-running war, which has been waged in the wilds of northern Sumatra for the last 27 years and has erupted with new ferocity in recent weeks. Full Story