Paras Indonesia, 02, 11 2006 @ 08:14 pm
Suspected Militant Arrested, Bali Blast Convict Dies
Posted by: Roy Tupai
Police in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso have detained an Islamic teacher
suspected of links to regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah, a report said
Saturday (11/2/06).
Sahal was arrested on Thursday morning and later sent to Jakarta for interrogation,
Poso Police official Brigadier General Bambang Suwedi was quoted as saying by the
Associated Press.
He said police had received information the teacher may have ties to Malaysian
fugitive Noordin Mohammad Top, who is wanted for involvement in a series of
bombings blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah.
Suwedi said Sahal was being questioned by anti-terror police in Jakarta and could be
held for a week before being formally declared a suspect.
Bali Bombing Convict Dies
Hernianto, one of 33 militants convicted over the October 2002 Bali nightclub
bombings that killed 202 people, died on February 3 from kidney failure.
The 29-year-old convict was serving a 15-year sentence for allowing the masterminds
to use his house in Central Java as a meeting place to plot the attacks. He also
helped to hide one of the main bombers after the attacks.
He was initially sentenced to 12 years in September 2003, but received another two
years in January 2004 after an unsuccessful appeal.
Hernianto passed away at Bali's Sanglah Hospital, where he had been treated for
eight days. He had undergone several hemodialysis treatments since December, said
hospital spokesman Mayun Mataram.
Singapore's Most-Wanted Deported
Indonesian police on January 20 arrested Singapore's most-wanted terror suspect,
Mas Selamat Kastari, who is accused of planning terror attacks on the island state's
airport.
Kastari, an Indonesian-born Singaporean, was nabbed while visiting his son studying
at a religious school in East Java. He was initially charged with using a fake identity
card before being handed over to Singapore on February 3.
He is now being detained under Singapore's harsh Internal Security Act, which allows
for detention of up to two years without trial. Authorities in Singapore believe Kastari
was involved in a plot in 2002 to bomb and crash a plane into Changi Airport.
Kastari had fled Singapore in December 2001 after a crackdown on Jemaah Islamiyah
members. More than two of his next four years in Indonesia were spent in prison. He
was jailed in Riau province, Sumatra, in 2003 for 18 months on immigration charges.
After his release, he was later detained in East Java, again for immigration offenses
and served a 15 month-sentence in Pasuruan jail. He was released in December
2005.
Indonesia and Singapore have no formal extradition treaty, although Jakarta is hopeful
a pact will be reached this year.
National Police spokesman Brigadier General Anton Bahrul Alam expressed hope the
handover of Kastari would encourage Singapore to deport several Indonesian fugitives
wanted for corruption.
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