Fugitive al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden once invited Indonesian preacher Abu Bakar Ba’asyir to live in Afghanistan, a young militant jailed over the bombing of a Jakarta hotel has told the cleric’s terrorism trial.Witness Mohamad Rais said on Thursday he gave a message to Ba’asyir from bin Laden in 2001 after returning to Indonesia from two years of military training in Afghan militant camps.”If Ba’asyir feels no longer comfortable here (in Indonesia), Osama asked Ba’asyir to go there,” Rais told the court when asked by a judge what was the content of the message.Asked what Ba’asyir said, Rais replied: “God Willing.”Rais said he was given the message by Hambali, another Indonesian preacher who was believed to be bin Laden’s key link to Southeast Asia.Hambali was arrested in 2003 in Thailand and is in U.S. custody.Ba’asyir, 66, is on trial over charges he leads Jemaah Islamiyah, a shadowy group seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda.Full Story
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