ABC AUSTRALIA, 02/04/2004 22:50:55
Suspected terrorist Bashir to be interrogated by Indonesian
police
Indonesian police will reportedly question jailed Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir next
week in an attempt to link him to the Bali bombings.
Bashir's lawyer, Wirawan Adnan, says he has been informed that his client will be
questioned on Wednesday and he has heard police want to link him with the October
2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
National police chief, General Da'i Bachtiar, says police have additional intelligence to
allow them to question Bashir, who is currently due to be released on April 29.
"We are developing information from witnesses both at home and abroad, such as
Malaysia and Singapore, in addition to information from Hambali," Bachtiar said.
Indonesia recently received information on the questioning of chief terror suspect,
Hambali, from the United States, which is holding him at an undisclosed location
following his arrest.
At Bashir's original trial prosecutors alleged he headed Jemaah Islamiyah, authorised
the network's church bombings in Indonesia, which killed 19 people on Christmas Eve
2000, and plotted to blow up US targets in Singapore.
He was convicted of taking part in a JI plot to overthrow the government but judges
said there was no proof he had led the network.
They jailed him for four years for treason and for immigration-related offences.
An appeal court in November overturned the treason conviction but said Bashir must
serve three years for immigration and forgery offences.
That sentence was recently halved by the Supreme Court.
02/04/2004 22:50:55 | ABC Radio Australia News
© 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
