LAKSAMANA.Net, December 16, 2003 06:44 PM
Two Terror-Linked Students to be Released
Laksamana.Net - Police say they will release two of six students recently deported
from Pakistan on suspicion of alleged terrorism links, while the four others are likely
to be declared suspects.
Brigadier General Pranowo Dahlan, director of the National Police's anti-terror squad,
on Tuesday (16/12/03) said there was insufficient evidence to detain students David
Pintarto and Anwar As-Shiddiqi.
The four others, Rusman ‘Gun Gun’ Gunawan, Mohammad Syaifudin, Ilham
Sofyandi and Furqon Abdullah, will remain in police custody for further questioning
over their alleged links to regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah. Police have
until Friday to charge them.
Pakistani authorities arrested the six students in early September at the Abu Bakar
Islamic University in the port city of Karachi for alleged involvement in a "sleeper cell"
of Jemaah Islamiyah. They were returned to Indonesia last Thursday.
Gunawan has reportedly admitted to channeling $50,000 and telecommunications
equipment to his older brother Hambali, the suspected former commander of Jemaah
Islamiyah.
Hambali, who is suspected of masterminding several terror attacks in Southeast Asia,
was arrested in Thailand in August. He is now being held by US authorities at an
undisclosed location.
Several Malaysian students, also arrested in Karachi in September, are now being
detained in Malaysia under the country's harsh Internal Security Act. Malaysian
authorities have described them as the "next generation" of Jemaah Islamiyah.
US Cooperation Sought
Indonesian police on Monday reportedly asked the US for access to Hambali, saying
they need to question him as part of their investigations into the six detained students
and other terror suspects.
"What we are developing in this investigation is connected to what we have known
about their links to Hambali," National Police chief General Dai Bachtiar was quoted
as saying by Reuters.
"We again remind the United States that if we all want to develop this investigation,
we must get access to Hambali. We should process Hambali here because he is
involved in many cases in Indonesia," he added.
Lawyers representing the detained students have complained that police are denying
them access to their clients.
"We deem that National Police headquarters is guilty of gross human rights violations
and of obstruction of justice," Munarman, head of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute,
was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.
He said the lawyers were initially given permission to represent two of the students,
but police had pressured the detainees to revoke the power of attorney.
Police on Tuesday defended their action, saying two of the students will be released,
while the other four are still being questioned as witnesses.
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