The Jakarta Post, 4/14/2006 8:58:31 PM
Baashir's layer, aide dismiss allegation
JAKARTA (AP): Supporters of an imprisoned Indonesian cleric designated a terrorist
leader by the U.S. Treasury department dismissed the allegation on Friday as a "dirty
trick" aimed at thwarting his planned release in June.
The department declared on Thursday that any bank accounts or other financial
assets of Abu Bakar Baashir, the alleged spiritual leader of the al-Qaida-linked
Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group, found in the United States would be frozen.
Similar designations were given to three other suspected members of Jemaah
Islamiyah, which is blamed in a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia including the
2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
Americans are also forbidden from doing business with those named.
One of Baashir's lawyers, Munarman, said the designation was a ploy.
"Baashir has got no bank accounts anywhere so the whole thing is a fantasy,"
Munarman told The Associated Press. "This is just a new tactic to trap him."
Baashir, who has consistently denied any illegal activity and says Jemaah Islamiyah
does not exist, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail in 2005 for inciting others to carry
out the Bali bombings, whose victims were mostly foreign tourists.
The 69-year-old cleric is due for release in June after his sentence was reduced by 4
1/2 months as part of an amnesty granted to prisoners on Indonesia's Independence
Day.
Fauzan Al-Ansory, a close aide of Baashir who often speaks on his behalf, said he
"strongly protested this malicious slander."This move is a dirty trick aimed at making
up reasons for (his) re-arrest later," Al-Ansory said.
One of the others designated a terrorist Thursday is Rusman Gunawan, the younger
brother of Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamudin, or Hambali. Hambali was
considered a key al-Qaida operative until his capture in 2003.
Rusman was sentenced in 2004 to four years in prison for helping to finance the 2003
bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, an attack blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah.
Five other Indonesians have been designated terrorists by the U.S. Treasury
Department since 2003. One of them, Abu Jibril, is a free man and regularly preaches
fiery sermons at mosques aroundthe country.
Baashir was first arrested in 2002 shortly after the Bali bombings. (**)
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