AMONG the senior members of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), Abdullah Anshori alias Ibnu Thoyib alias Abu Fatih is a respected figure. He was among the first generation of JI members when it was founded in 1993. Abu Fatih was also a trusted confidant of Abdullah Sungkar, the founder of JI. He was appointed as the commander of the mantiqi (local wing), overseeing JI’s militant groups from Aceh to Nusa Tenggara Timur until 2001.

However, he once