The Jakarta Post, 5/17/2004 3:44:02 PM
Ba'asyir sues police for 'U.S.-ordered' arrest
JAKARTA (AFP): Top terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir filed a lawsuit against the
Indonesian police Monday saying his rearrest last month on suspicion of terrorism
was illegal as it was ordered by the United States.
Ba'asyir, who police believe leads the Al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network,
was rearrested on April 30 moments after he emerged from jail after completing an
18-month term for immigration violations and forgery.
The lawsuit filed at the South Jakarta district court says the arrest was "unlawful and
illegal" since it was carried out "under an order by foreigners, America," said Wirawan
Adnan, a lawyer for the cleric.
It says the police should be ordered to release Ba'asyir, who is being held at the
Jakarta police headquarters.
Adnan said police had not given Ba'asyir's family copies of the arrest and detention
warrants issued against him, as is required under Indonesian law.
"They only showed (Ba'asyir) the warrants but they were never given to his family," he
told reporters.
The lawsuit demands copies of the warrants, he said.
Ba'asyir, 65, has repeatedly said his rearrest was a U.S. ploy to keep him in jail.
A court last September jailed Ba'asyir for four years for involvement in a JI plot to
overthrow the government but said there was no proof he led the network.
An appeal court overturned the treason conviction but ruled that Ba'asyir must serve
three years for immigration-related offenses.
The Supreme Court later halved that sentence.
Police say they have new evidence that Ba'asyir led JI and he will be charged with
involvement in JI attacks between 1999 and 2002 -- including the Bali nightclub
bombings which killed 202 people in October 2002.
They have also questioned witnesses detained in Malaysia, the Philippines and
Singapore in a bid to build their case against Ba'asyir.
Adnan described claims of the new evidence as "nonsense" saying police "have no
new evidence" on his client.
None of the questions police have so far asked his client were new, he said.
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