The Jakarta Post, 4/18/2004 7:24:07 PM
PKS leader defends visiting Ba'asyir
JAKARTA (Reuters): The head of an Indonesian Islamist party that did well in recent
legislative polls said on Sunday he visited militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir in
jail because the United States was intervening in the case.
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) leader Hidayat Nur Wahid said he visited Ba'asyir at
a Jakarta prison on Saturday because he believed the rule of law in Indonesia was not
being respected.
Police last week named Bashir a terror suspect in a fresh investigation and are
focusing on possible links to the 2002 Bali bombings and his alleged leadership of a
Southeast Asian al Qaeda-linked group called Jamaah Islamiyah.
Ba'asyir is serving time on immigration offenses. He is due to be freed on April 30,
although the latest investigation could keep him in detention after that date.
"We have heard from U.S. embassy officials as well as officials from the (Indonesian)
foreign ministry that there has been intervention from the U.S. to influence the legal
process in Indonesia involving Abu Bakar Bashir," Wahid told Reuters.
"I am against terrorism and support the rule of law, but I object to any foreign
intervention. I am worried that those who blindly accuse others of being terrorists
without having evidence are the real radicals and terrorists."
The United States has accused Bashir of involvement in terrorism and made clear it
wants him to remain in jail.
It provided Indonesia with transcripts from investigation against Hambali, allegedly a
high-ranking al-Qaeda operative in Southeast Asia, as soon as Ba'asyir was acquitted
of terrorism and treasoncharges.
Requests made by Indonesian authorities to directly question Hambali had always
been turned down by the U.S who kept the Indonesian in a secret detention center.
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