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LAKSAMANA.Net, April 23, 2004 10:48 PM

Baasyir's Support Grows Ahead of Terror Probe

Laksamana.Net - Detained Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Baasyir is receiving a growing stream of high-profile visitors ahead of plans by police to question him on Monday (26/4/04) as a terrorism suspect.

Baasyir's supporters have slammed the new investigation as a form of US intervention in Indonesian affairs. The US and other foreign governments claim the radical cleric led regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been blamed for a string of attacks over recent years, including the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.

Baasyir is on April 30 due to finish serving an 18 month jail sentence for forging documents and immigration violations, but is likely to remain behind bars due to his status as a terror suspect.

Among the Muslim leaders to have visited Baasyir at his cell at Jakarta's Salemba penitentiary over recent days are Prosperous Justice Party chairman Hidayat Nurwahid, Crescent Star Party executive Ahmad Sumargono and Indonesian Ulemas Council secretary general Din Syamsuddin.

On Friday, Baasyir received a one hour visit from Sri Bintang Pamungkas, a former political prisoner who was jailed in 1997 for his peaceful opposition to the dictatorial regime of ex-president Suharto.

Pamungkas, who founded the United Indonesian Democracy Party, was accompanied by Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) executive Hilmy Bakar and a member of Baasyir's legal team, Muhammad Ali.

Like Baasyir's other visitors, Pamungkas said police had been pressured by the US to declare the cleric a terror suspect. "We realize that many domestic and foreign teams want Baasyir's detention to continue on various false pretexts… The interference from the foreign teams, especially the US, is an insult to this country," he was quoted as saying by detikcom online news portal.

He said Indonesia is highly susceptible to foreign intervention because it is internally weak.

Ali said the legal team had received the police summons for Baasyir to be questioned on Monday, but he declined to say whether the cleric would cooperate with investigators.

Earlier Friday, another of the cleric's lawyers, Mahendradatta, said they would try to contest the interrogation as illegal.

Baasyir on Thursday said he would only cooperate with police if he was freed from jail. "If I am detained, I will refuse to be questioned by police because my detention will only please America because they intend to make an enemy of Islam," he was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.

He strongly denies any involvement in terrorism and claims Jemaah Islamiyah was invented by the US in an effort to discredit Islam.

In an interview with the Associated Press this week, Baasyir denounced the US as an enemy of Muslims and said attacks on American interests were justified. He also praised al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a "member of Allah's army".

"America screams...and then the police say they will arrest me. America clearly started a war against Islam. We are right to defend ourselves," he was quoted as saying by AP.

"America knows I have nothing to do with bombings or terrorism… It is afraid of my struggle to impose Islamic law in Indonesia. It is trying to destroy Islam from within," he added.

Baasyir also claimed he had been made a scapegoat by US President George W. Bush because of his failure to capture bin Laden.

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