He was in exile in Malaysia for 17 years during the secular New Order administration of President Suharto resulting from various activities, including urging the implementation of Sharia law.

Intelligence agencies and the United Nations claim he is the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah (also known as JI), best known for the 2002 Bali bombings and which has links with Al-Qaeda.

[2] In August 2014, he publicly pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and his declaration of a caliphate.

[6] Soon after his release, Bashir was convicted on similar charges; he was also linked to the bomb attack on the Buddhist temple Borobudur in 1985 but fled to Malaysia.

In June 2002, the U.S. government asked Indonesia to turn over Omar Al-Faruq, a member of al-Qaeda and a suspect of terrorist attacks and car bombings.

Megawati Sukarnoputri's administration captured Al-Faruq and transferred him to American custody, and he was subsequently held in Bagram prison in Afghanistan.

[citation needed] On October 15, 2004, he was arrested by the Indonesian authorities and charged with involvement in the bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta on August 5, 2003, which killed 14 people.

After returning to the boarding school for which he is the spiritual leader, he pledged a renewed campaign to impose Islamic sharia law on Indonesia.

He also called Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, to convert to Islam in order to save him from hell and receive God's forgiveness.

[15] In answer to one reporter's question as to what the West and the United States can do to make the world safer, Bashir replied, "They have to stop fighting Islam.

"[16] In October 2008, Bashir announced he intends to start a new Islamic group in Indonesia, JAT or Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid ("partisans of the oneness of God"), at the time the Indonesian government was preparing to execute the three Bali bombers.

Bashir repeated his claim that a nuclear device was released by the CIA, saying the attack was conspiracy between "America, Australia and the Jews"[17] In February 2012, the US Department of State website stated that JAT was responsible for multiple coordinated attacks against innocent civilians, police and military personnel in Indonesia.

[23] In January 2019 it was rumored that president Joko Widodo was considering the release of Bashir due to old age and declining health.

[26] In 2014, he reportedly pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

He has claimed that Jemaah Islamiyah doesn't exist and that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel were behind terror attacks in Indonesia including the 2002 Bali bombings[29] After open confessions from the bombers, Bashir claimed in August 2006 that the Bali bombs were "replaced" by a "micro-nuclear" weapon by the CIA.

Bashir has expressed sympathy for Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, but that he didn't "agree with all of their actions," in particular "total war."

"[9] The Indonesian Islamic cleric is portrayed strongly in Western media as an extremist who inspires deadly actions.

*[32]He founded the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council (MMI), a coalition of Islamist groups promoting the implementation of Islamic law in Indonesia.

In August 2008, Bashir resigned his position as the council's supreme leader, charging that the groups internal democratic structure contradicted Islam, and stated that he should have absolute power within the organization.

[citation needed] The cleric has also previously warned of severe retribution if the Bali bombers, who killed 202 people in 2002, be executed by firing squad.

In July 2014, an imprisoned Bashir pledged allegiance, or Bay'ah, to the militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.