Safer behind bars

Dark history: Relatives of the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings mourning in front of the Bali Bombing Memorial during on the recent 14th anniversary of the tragedy. Hambali is said to be the mastermind of the terrorist attacks in Kuta, Bali, which claimed the lives of 202 people. EPA/MADE NAGI

FOR the last 13 years, al-Qaeda’s most powerful leader in South-East Asia, Indonesian Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, has been held in Guantanamo Bay prison, out of public sight but still very much in the minds of militants and security agencies across the region.

Such is the potent reputation of Hambali, the man known as the Osama bin Laden of South-East Asia, alleged mastermind of Bali’s devastating 2002 bombings that killed 202, Indonesia’s Christmas Eve multi-city church bombings of 2000, and Jakarta Marriott Hotel car bombing of 2003.