Jafar Umar Thalib, arrested on Saturday in Indonesia for
incitement to violence, is the head of Laskar Jihad, one of
country's most militant Islamic organisations.
Its members are accused of carrying out acts of violence
against Christians on Indonesia's eastern Moluccas islands,
including a massacre last month in which at least 12 people were
murdered.
Police have accused Mr Jafar, a 40-year-old Indonesian cleric
of Yemeni descent, of sowing hatred against Christians,
particularly in the Moluccan provincial capital, Ambon.
In a speech at a mosque in late April, he reportedly implored
Muslims to "to prepare our bombs, and ready our guns".
Two days later about dozen masked men with guns, grenades and
daggers attacked the village of Soya, near Ambon, torching about
30 homes and a church and killing at least 12 Christians.
Christian sources said the Soya attack was carried out by a
Muslim mob armed with machetes, knives and bombs. Other reports
said the attackers were armed with M-16 assault rifle, a US-made
weapon used by the Indonesian military.
Mr Jafar denied Laskar Jihad was involved, though the group is
known to have sent thousands of men to the Moluccas since 2000 as
religious violence in the province continued.
The attack on Soya was the worst incident since Christians and
Muslims signed a pact in February to end three years of fighting
which had claimed more than 5,000 lives.
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It is not the first time Mr Jafar has been dogged by
controversy.
Last year the police arrested him for allegedly presiding over
a makeshift Islamic court that ordered a rapist be stoned to
death.
Stoning is illegal under Indonesian law, and Mr Jafar allegedly
led the execution himself, though he was never prosecuted.
Mr Jafar's goal is the implementation of Shariah, or Islamic
law in Indonesia.
But critics say his true agenda is more personal and that he
wants fame, respect and influence.
They also say his knowledge of Islam is artificial.
At a recent seminar in Jakarta, Mr Jafar was no match for
Nurcholish Madjid, arguably Indonesia's most internationally known
Muslim thinker.
Mr Nurcholish dominated the talk, lecturing Mr Jafar about
classical works of the Muslim worlds and the Shariah. Mr Jafar
mostly mused.
Mr Jafar is tall and plumper than his reputation as an ascetic
would suggest. He is pale-skinned with dark brown eyes. His
moustache is neatly trimmed, and he has a straggly beard, which he
constantly combs between his thumb and forefinger.
Mr Jafar got his first experience of militancy fighting
alongside the anti-Soviet mujahedeen in Afghanistan in the late
1980s. He claimed he met Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden
while visiting Pakistan.
Mr Jafar now openly scorns Bin Laden's understanding of Islam
as misguided.
Mr Jafar returned to Indonesia in the early 1990s and oversaw a
network of Koranic boarding schools.
His name was relatively unknown until 1999 when he set up the
Laskar Jihad and allegedly began to send militias to the Moluccan
Islands, apparently with the backing of several mainstream
politicians.
Last year, he was photographed hugging Vice-President Hamzah
Haz at an official reception.
Mr Haz, also the president of the Muslim-based United
Development Party, has visited Mr Jafar in his prison cell,
raising speculation that was trying to secure Mr Jafar's release.
Some observers said Mr Haz's visit was a calculated move to
reap political gain among Muslim voters.
