The Cross

 

Ambon Berdarah On-Line
News & Pictures About Ambon/Maluku Tragedy

 

 


 

 

 

The Jakarta Post


The Jakarta Post, 4/14/2004 5:46:48 PM

Police to quiz Ba'asyir as terrorism suspect

JAKARTA (AFP): Indonesian police said Wednesday they will question hardline Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, due to be freed from jail later this month, as a suspect in terrorism cases.

"There is information, there are witnesses, there is evidence which could be used for a further process regarding actions of this individual both at home and abroad," national police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said.

Foreign governments accuse Ba'asyir of having led the Al Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network blamed for the Bali bombings of October 2002, in which 202 people died, and for a string of other deadly attacks.

The U.S., Australia and Singapore expressed disappointment after Supreme Court in March halved Ba'asyir's three-year prison sentence for immigration offences and document forgery.

Ba'asyir, 65, is scheduled to be freed from jail on April 30 but Bachtiar did not specify when the interrogation would occur. "There will be a questioning of the said individual as part of the legal process," he said.

He said Ba'asyir would be interviewed as a suspect on charges of perpetrating terrorist acts.

A police spokesman said last week they would use testimonies and statements from terrorism suspects detained in the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore "to prove whether Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was really involved in the Bali bombing and other terrorist acts."

He said police would also study transcripts of U.S. interviews with top terror suspect Hambali -- a suspected senior figure in both JI and Al-Qaeda itself -- who has been in US custody since his arrest last August in Thailand. One week ago police cancelled a plan to bring Ba'asyir from jail for questioning.

Bachtiar dismissed allegations that the opening of another case against Ba'asyir was the result of foreign pressure. "We work based on the law and no matter how strong the pressure we come under. If we have no legal facts and evidence, we will not be able to do it," he said.

One of Ba'asyir's lawyers, Achmad Michdan, told AFP that an official at Jakarta's Salemba jail handed him a letter during a prison visit Tuesday "informing my client of the expiration of his jail term on April 30, 2004".

All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
 


Copyright © 1999-2001 - Ambon Berdarah On-Line * http://www.go.to/ambon
HTML page is designed by
Alifuru67 * http://www.oocities.org/nunusaku
Send your comments to
alifuru67@yahoogroups.com
This web site is maintained by the Real Ambonese - 1364283024 & 1367286044