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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