Prosecutors brought to court on Monday an Indonesian teacher, considered by police as the chief of a Southeast Asian Muslim militant network, saying he was the group’s caretaker and charging him with hiding a Bali bomber. The prosecution said Abu Rusydan, a religious teacher from Central Java, temporarily took over the role of Abu Bakar Bashir as the leader of Jemaah Islamiah six months before the deadly Bali bombings, which authorities say were the works of the group. “The defendant was chosen as the day-to-day caretaker of Jemaah Islamiah’s emir” in a meeting of Muslim militants in a resort area in West Java province, state prosecutor Haryono said. However, the charges against Rusydan mainly centered on his role in hiding Mukhlas, the top controller of the Bali blast operation that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Prosecutors said Rusydan met Mukhlas five days after the Bali bombings at a gathering in a remote Central Java town. Full Story
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