WHO is Hambali? Why was the arrest of a man originally called Encep Nurjaman so important that no less than US President George Bush was the first to announce it? What has the 39-year-old man from Cianjur actually done that led the security forces of several countries to relentlessly pursue him? Is he really an international terrorist?

Hambali's close family object to that charge. They know Encep as a soft-spoken preacher, a responsible and