JAKARTA - NASIR Abbas, a key leader of the South-east Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah before becoming a police informant, welcomed news on Friday he had been taken off a UN terror list.
No reason was given for the decision, but Abbas said it was in recognition of his efforts to convince jailed Islamic militants - many of whom he helped train in Afghanistan and the southern Philippines - that killing civilians could never be justified.
'I'm very grateful,' said Abbas, 39, who has been called a traitor by former friends. 'I've proven that I am not a terrorist.'
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has been hit by a string of suicide bombings blamed on JI since Sept 11, 2001, that together have killed more than 240 people, many of them foreign tourists.
Abbas, a Malaysian national, headed JI's military training division before his arrest in Indonesia in 2003 on immigration charges.
The United Nations placed him on its list of suspected terrorists five years ago and removed him Sept 26. -- AP
