Jemaah Islamiyah isn't dead
At dawn in late May , the iron gates of Cilegon Prison in West Java slid open. Para Wijayanto, 60, stepped into the light – a grizzled veteran of the Moro conflict, the last emir of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and South-east Asia's fading link to Al-Qaeda. His grey robe fluttered in the morning breeze; his white skullcap sat neatly on his head.
There was no fanfare. Only his wife, veiled in black, and a few plainclothes officers stood witness. The quiet release contrasted with the legacy of the group in which he was such a key figure: JI was behind the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people.
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