I was wondering when a story like this one would begin circulating . . . top terrorist ‘may be master hypnotist’ . . .

Amid fears that Indonesia’s most wanted terrorist will strike again, some police have a new theory: Noordin Top is using hypnotism to elude capture and recruit more suicide bombers. The senior Jemaah Islamiah operative – blamed for both Bali bombings and a series of other attacks – has time and again escaped the clutches of the law during the past three years. Just two weeks ago he slipped through a massive dragnet again, even though counter-terror officers did shoot dead Azahari Husin, Noordin’s bombmaker partner. Among the few things left behind by Noordin was a graphic video in which he specifically warned Australia that his band of Islamic extremists would strike again. In Azahari’s hideout police found plans for a "Bom Pesta" – or bomb party – this coming Christmas with several churches and shopping malls earmarked for attack. As fears rise, reports say some police in notoriously superstitious Indonesia believe Noordin may have the ability to hypnotise people, using his mental powers to escape his pursuers and recruit more bombers. "A village chief fell unconscious after kissing the hand of a man resembling Noordin," one policeman told the latest edition of Tempo news magazine. The magazine said the chief’s mind went blank "like he was hypnotised" after meeting a "tabib", or traditional healer, who looked like Noordin. One officer said police believed even a skilled religious preacher would have difficulty finding so many followers willing to kill themselves for a cause. Belief in the supernatural is widespread in Indonesia. Crime is sometimes blamed on tricksters with magical powers and people regularly take their problems to fortune-tellers and witchdoctors, known as dukun. Against this social background, one policeman told Tempo that JI used "unconventional recruitment techniques" to boost its ranks. Investigators believe Noordin is an expert at disguise, perhaps using many different ID documents. Noordin is JI’s chief recruiter, Islamic ideologue and strategist, and there are now fears that he and at least 14 recruits are preparing to unleash a new wave of bombings….

I’ve no doubt that he’s using unconventional recruitment techniques but it ain’t hypnosis, it’s the same sort of mind control . . . influence . . . everyone else uses. No hocus pocus, no waving of arms, plain ol’ suck ’em in jabbering, he’s just really good at it and has a sympathetic audience. I would strongly suggest that the guy is more likely very well connected and slipping through dragnets by more conventional means than hypnotism. While covert hypnotism is possible in certain contexts, it is more of an influence set than a hypnotic one in most cases and it is also very much less reliable than other more overt means of persuasion and influence. His ability to move freely is quite possibly an indication that he has quite a number of supporters upon which he can depend as well. Given the nature of suicide bombing and the usual demographics of nations which produce more of them – often in highly religious and conservative traditional areas with a higher ratio of men to women as well as an often depressed economic development and a sense of powerlessness – then it is not really a shocker that he could find suicide bombing recruits in one of the world’s most populous Muslim nations where sheer numbers gives one a probability of eventual success and the spin on doctrine allows certain leaders to twist concepts around to imply that they are participating in a holy jihad of some sort which gives one instant fame or at least an instant trip to paradise when dying for the cause (the Islamic beliefs against murder are glossed over by creating a context that anyone and everyone who is not "with us must be against us and should be considered an enemy combatant and thus fair game" – a line used by certain Western religious teachers and hawkish politicians to justify immoral action as well . . . it seems everyone plays the spin game to some degree, it’s just that some of them spin a bit more peacefully than others and no one gets blown up afterwards . . . the spindoctors with suicide bombing on their mind are particularly dangerous).

The guy who passed out may have been highly suggestible or he may have happened to have had a heat stroke but someone passing out because they saw someone who looked like a suspect does not prove the suspect is a hypnotist, it just proves that some folks worry too much and let those fears get the better of them.