Washington: The US Treasury on Thursday blacklisted four Indonesians it accused of being top members of the extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), including its alleged spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir.
Bashir is imprisoned in Indonesia after being convicted of conspiracy over the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians. But he is due for release in June.
The Treasury said Bashir was the supremo for JI's "deadly agenda", and said members of the Southeast Asian group "have been trained, funded and directed by Al-Qaeda to pursue a like-minded terrorist agenda".
Under the action, taken under a presidential order, US citizens are banned from any transactions with the named individuals and any assets the individuals may have in the United States are frozen.
Also banned was Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan, whom the Treasury said is the younger brother of former JI operations chief Hambali. Hambali has been in US custody at an undisclosed location since his capture in Thailand in 2003.
It alleged that Gunawan founded a JI offshoot in Pakistan known as Al-Ghuraba. "The Al-Ghuraba group was formed to groom the next generation of JI leaders, provide them with training in weapons and explosives, and give them first-hand experience in militant operations," the Treasury said.
Gunawan was arrested in Pakistan in September 2003 and deported to Indonesia three months later. In October 2004, he was sentenced to four years in jail on charges that he helped fund the August 2003 bombing of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people.
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