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The Times of India Online 22 May 2001
Militant Muslim chief's arrest declared
'unlawful'
JAKARTA: An Indonesian court ruled on Monday that police had unlawfully arrested the leader of a Muslim group blamed for the slaughter of Christians in Indonesia's Maluku islands.
However, the police's detention of Jaffar Umar Thalib, commander of the Muslim militant "Jihad" group, following his May 4 arrest was legal, Judge Samsul Ali said in the court's verdict on the pre-trial lawsuit case filed by Thalib against the national police (Polri).
Thalib was arrested on charges linked to sectarian violence in the Malukus, where more than 4,000 people have died in bloody communal conflict over the past two years Ali said in a South Jakarta district court that policemen who arrested Thalib in the East Java city of Surabaya had not produced police documents for the arrest.
Indonesian police law stipulates that officers must present an arrest warrant and an assignment paper when making a planned arrest.
"During the arrest, none of the (arresting) officers produced assignment papers to be shown to the plaintiff (Thalib), and this fact is corroborated by statements made by five witnesses," Ali said.
The police had also only produced "a faxed copy of the arrest warrant" issued by Polri Chief General Suroyo Bimantoro during the arrest, Ali said.
Ali ruled however that Thalib's detention was legal since the police had enough initial evidence against him to warrant his detention.
The court ordered Polri to pay Thalib compensation of one million rupiah (87 dollars), but rejected Muslim leader's demand for a public letter of apology from Polri.
Thalib was released from police detention on May 15 and has since been under house arrest. His pre-trial case victory is unlikely to affect his trial on charges linked to sectarian violence in the Malukus.
Thalib has been accused of a "public display of contempt and hatred towards a particular religious group" and "negligence, causing the death of another person."
The second accusation refers to an Islamic-style execution by stoning of a Jihad member found guilty of adultery on Ambon, one of the Maluku islands, earlier this year. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.
Fighting between Christians and Muslims erupted on Ambon in January 1999 and spread rapidly to other islands in the Malukus chain, which are better known as the Spice Islands.
The violence has also created more than 500,000 refugees. (AFP)
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