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 With the recent conclusion of the trial of radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, it will be interesting to observe the enthusiasm with which the authorities seek the extradition from Pakistan of Umar Patek, the last of the 2002 Bali bombers and a figure from the real world of international terrorism.

It is not clear what physical evidence the Indonesian police still have, but it is believed there are several witnesses, including prominent Bali conspirator Ali Imron, who would be willing to testify that Patek helped assemble the car bomb that killed 202 people.

While prosecutors cannot bring retroactive charges against the 41-year-old militant under the 2003 Anti-Terrorism Law, he can still be tried under the 1951 Emergency Law for the possession of explosives and under the Criminal Code for mass murder.

Not everyone in law enforcement is keen to have him back, given fears that the different rules of evidence will mitigate against a successful prosecution and the possibility of a heavy sentence.

Unlike Bashir, Patek has also fought in the Philippines and Afghanistan and could well use his status to play a mobilizing role in a slack prison system that, up to now, has served as a fertile breeding ground for new militants.

The same reluctance attends the case of Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali, the former operational chief of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist network, who remains a “high value” prisoner at Guantanamo Bay eight years after he was captured in a Central Intelligence Agency-directed operation in Thailand.

The Americans have provided only limited access to Hambali, but the Pakistanis were quick to allow three Indonesian counter-terrorism agents to interview Patek, a Javanese of Arab descent, as he recovered from leg wounds sustained in a gunfight with arresting officers in January.

Officials have indicated that before extradition is considered, the long-sought fugitive may first stand trial in Pakistan, where he faces a battery of charges ranging from the illegal possession of weapons and resisting arrest to carrying a forged passport.

Indonesian police met Hambali only briefly for the first time in mid-February 2009, nearly 2 1/2 years after he was sent to the Guantanamo detention centre from a secret jail in the Jordanian desert, where he was said to have undergone torture.

For all the speculation surrounding Patek's capture in Abbottabad, the same town where Osama bin Laden was slain four months later, it is now understood that he was not there to meet the Al-Qaeda leader and was, in fact, on his way to join the Taliban in Waziristan.

It seems unlikely that a face-to-face encounter with Osama was ever on the cards when the world's most-wanted man had lived in isolation for five years, relying on thumb-drives to receive information from the outside and to pass on messages.

Patek has told police that when he returned to Indonesia in June 2009, he always intended to fight in Afghanistan. As it was, he stayed in Jakarta until two Pakistanis arrived in August last year and reportedly acquired a false passport for him from the Pakistani Embassy.

Patek is believed to be the last of the Indonesian militants to have past contacts with Al-Qaeda leaders, going back to the days prior to the Sept 11, 2001 attacks when he trained and fought with the mujahideen in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Those links may have eroded during the years he and fellow militant Joko Pitono, alias Dulmatin, spent on the run with the Abu Sayyaf, but the fact that he received help from the two Pakistanis still raises questions about the extent of his international contacts.

Patek, Dulmatin and Sarwiyo, now serving a life term, were placed in charge of building the Bali bomb during a strategy session attended by key JI operatives at Dulmatin's rented house in Solo, Central Java, in mid-August 2002.

Malaysian explosives expert Azahari Husin had to be brought in at the last minute to overcome difficulties Patek and Dulmatin had with the sequencing of the detonators. Even then, only a third of the 1,000kg bomb actually went off.

In the aftermath of the blast, the pair took refuge in Jakarta and then split up, with Dulmatin going to Poso in Central Sulawesi and Patek to East Kalimantan. They met again in Sabah in April 2003 and, using a well-worn route, travelled together to Mindanao.

Dulmatin was killed in a shoot-out with a Detachment 88 anti-terrorist assault team in March last year, about 14 months after he returned to Indonesia to begin training militant recruits at a jungle camp in Aceh province, which Bashir is alleged to have financed.

While doubts remain about whether Hambali and Patek will ever see the inside of an Indonesian jail, the 72-year-old cleric is facing a life term at the sentencing due next month.

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055