Ibrahim Maidin
Age: 71
Known for: Establishing the Singapore Jemaah Islamiah (JI) branch
Background: A charismatic religious preacher and former condominium manager, the Singaporean was inducted into the JI around 1989 and swore an oath of allegiance to Indonesian Abu Bakar Bashir, who was then the JI amir, or supreme leader. During his tenure as JI's Singapore leader in the 1990s, he personally recruited many of its members from his religious classes, and was largely responsible for the organisation's development. He was succeeded by Mas Selamat in 1999, and was among the first group of JI members arrested in December 2001.
Current status: Under detention in Singapore
Mas Selamat Kastari
Age: 60
Alias: Edi Heriyanto
Known for: Leading the Singapore JI network; plotting a revenge attack to crash a commercial flight leaving Bangkok for Changi Airport; escaping Whitley Road Detention Centre in 2008
Background: At one point Singapore's most wanted terrorist, he first joined as a member of Darul Islam - the precursor to JI - in 1990. The Singaporean went to Afghanistan for training in 1993, and was chosen by JI operations chief Hambali to be the leader of JI operations in Singapore in 1999. He fled to Johor after the arrest of JI members in December 2001. The arrests angered him and prompted him to hatch plans to hijack a plane from Bangkok and crash it into the Changi Airport control tower. Collaboration between the Internal Security Department (ISD) and its Indonesian and Malaysian security counterparts led to his first arrest in Bintan, Indonesia, in 2003. After his escape from Whitley Road Detention Centre in 2008 that sparked a massive manhunt, he was recaptured in Johor, Malaysia, in 2009, and repatriated to Singapore in September 2010.
Current status: Under detention in Singapore
Masyhadi Mas Selamat
Age: 32
Alias: Muhammad Hanif
Known for: Being the eldest of five children by Mas Selamat Kastari
Background: When then fugitive Mas Selamat was arrested in Indonesia in 2003, his son Masyhadi had remained in Indonesia, living under a false identity. After a dramatic arrest at his wedding in a village in southern Solo in October 2013, the Singaporean was deported the following month. He had allegedly been planning terror acts to be carried out in Singapore.
Current status: Under detention in Singapore
Mohammad Aslam Yar Ali Khan
Age: 57
Alias: N/A
Known for: Surveillance on him led to the first wave of JI arrests in Singapore by the ISD
Background: A Singaporean of Pakistani descent, Aslam fled to Pakistan on Oct 4, 2001, following the September 11 attacks on the United States. A tip-off to the ISD said that Aslam had claimed to know Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and to have fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The ISD kept tabs on Aslam and a group of his associates, and following news of his arrest in Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance, the department made its first move to arrest members of the JI network in Singapore.
The married father of five was brought back to Singapore in December 2002 and detained.
Current status: Under detention in Singapore
Abdullah Sungkar
Age: Died at 62
Known for: Founding JI in Malaysia in 1993 with Abu Bakar Bashir
Background: The late Indonesian cleric prepared the ground for close ties between JI and Al-Qaeda in the early 1990s when he went to Afghanistan to take part in the Soviet-Afghan war. JI had developed from the Indonesian Islamic movement, Darul Islam, which fought a violent insurgency to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia in the 1950s and 1960s. Sungkar had a close relationship with Abu Bakar Bashir, who eventually took over from him as the spiritual leader of JI in 2004.
Current status: Died in 1999
Abu Bakar Bashir
Age: 82
Alias: Abdus Samad
Known for: Masterminding the 2002 Bali bombings; Taking over from Abdullah Sungkar as the leader of JI in 2004
Background: The cleric, who had a long history of militancy, was released from prison this year (2021) after serving time on terror-related charges. Bashir, who is married and has three children, has been in jail since he was arrested in 2009. In 2001, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for funding a militant training camp in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh. The alleged mastermind behind Indonesia's deadliest terrorist attack - the 2002 bombings on Bali which killed 202 people - co-founded JI in the early 1990s with Abdullah Sungkar.
Current status: Released from prison in Indonesia
Encep Nurjaman
Age: 57
Alias: Hambali, Riduan Isamuddin
Known for: Being a key JI leader and its operational chief, who authorised and orchestrated many of the group's attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings
Background: Known as the Osama bin Laden of South-east Asia, the Indonesian was the Al-Qaeda's primary link man in the region. In targeting Singapore for attacks, he was keen to create chaos by carrying out attacks here that implicated Malaysia, such as on water pipelines at the Causeway. He intended to create animosity between Singapore and Malaysia to provoke war, believing that the JI could then take advantage of the instability to overthrow the governments of the two countries to establish an Islamic state. He left Malaysia some time in 2001, and was later caught in Ayuttaya, Thailand, in 2003. In August this year, arraignment began for Hambali in the US over charges that include conspiracy, murder and terrorism.
Current status: In US' custody at Guantanamo Bay
Ali Gufron
Age: Died at 48
Alias: Mukhlas
Known for: Playing a key role in the Bali bombings of 2002; Taking over Hambali as JI's operational chief in South-east Asia
Background: Mukhlas was a principal of a clandestine Islamic school set up in Johor by followers of exiled JI leaders Abdullah Sungkar and Abu Bakar Bashir. He replaced Hambali as JI head in South-east Asia in 2002, and was arrested that year in December for his role in plotting the Bali bombings carried out two months prior. He was reported to have remained defiant and even laughed during his trial, before being executed in 2008.
Current status: Executed by firing squad in Indonesia in 2008
