Al-Farouq's escape 'staged': Ex-BIN chief<\/p>\n
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The escape of terrorist suspect Omar al-Farouq from the United
\nStates detention may be a ploy to track down most-wanted terror
\nmaster Osama bin Laden, a former intelligence chief says.<\/p>\n
A.M. Hendropriyono, former State Intelligence Agency (BIN)
\ndirector, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that he had strong
\ngrounds to suspect a hidden agenda behind the escape of al-
\nFarouq, a Kuwait-born terrorist suspect who Indonesia handed over
\nto the U.S. in September 2002, one month before the Bali blasts
\nthat killed 202 people.<\/p>\n
\"Following his escape, al-Farouq appeared in an interview with
\nan Arabian TV station brandishing an automatic rifle. It is
\nimpossible that a terrorist group would trust and give him a gun
\nafter three years in U.S. detention. It is possible that he was
\nprepared by his users to conduct a special mission.<\/p>\n
\"Second, it is quite strange that Washington remained silent
\nabout al-Farouq's escape. It can be assumed that U.S. security
\nauthorities were informed of his escape from the prison in July,
\nbut until now, President George W. Bush has not explained it, at
\nleast not to the American public,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hendropriyono, who was responsible for al-Farouq's transfer to
\nU.S. custody, said it was very likely that al-Farouq had been
\nbrainwashed during his confinement at the Baghram maximum
\nsecurity detention center in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\"Brainwashing does not take years, it can take just two days,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Hendropriyono said it appeared that al-Farouq's brainwashing
\nhad been effective as al-Farouq was cooperative and provided
\ndetailed information when two Indonesian police officer
\nquestioned him in Afghanistan following the hand-over. Al-Farouq
\nhad led the police to Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who is
\nserving his 30-month jail term for conspiring the 2002 Bali
\nblasts.<\/p>\n
He also said it was possible that the U.S. was using al-Farouq
\nto trace terrorist networks in the Middle East, Afghanistan and
\nPakistan, and locate bin Laden, who is still at large following
\nthe Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the U.S.<\/p>\n
It is unlikely that al-Farouq would come back to Indonesia as
\nthe U.S. had not coordinated with the Indonesian authorities
\nregarding his escape, Hendropriyono added.<\/p>\n
The fact that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has warned of
\npossible strikes by al-Farouq indicates that Indonesia was never
\ninformed of the apparent U.S. plan, said Hendropriyono.<\/p>\n
\"But if he returns to Indonesia anyway, BIN and the police
\nknow all his contact persons and the accomplices he may look for
\nin Bogor, Poso, Palu, Makassar and Ambon, five towns where he
\noperated between 1999 and 2002,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Asked about the public outrage toward him for handing al-
\nFarouq over to the U.S. three years ago, Hendropriyono said the
\nIndonesian authorities had no legal basis to charge him for
\nterrorism because the country had not enacted an applicable law.<\/p>\n
\"BIN arrested him because he was one of the most-wanted
\npersons in connection with the Sept. 11 tragedy and then deported
\nhim for immigration violations and identity card counterfeit. BIN
\nwas never instructed by the U.S. or other countries to arrest
\nhim.<\/p>\n
\"We nabbed him because he was dangerous and if he had not been
\narrested more people might have been killed in bomb attacks,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Al-Farouq was arrested by intelligence agents in the Bogor
\nGrand Mosque after BIN received a video recording showing him
\nleading a bloody attack on a Christian village in Poso, Central
\nSulawesi.<\/p>\n
Hendropriyono said al-Farouq had held five different passports
\nand various fake Indonesian identity cards under different names
\nbut did not speak Indonesian.<\/p>\n
The former intelligence chief expressed regret that one of al-
\nFarouq's operatives who was later arrested, Seyam Reda, had
\nescaped and many members of al-Qaeda-related groups were still
\noperating in Poso, where sectarian conflict left 1,000 dead
\nbetween 2000 and 2001.<\/p>\n
Al-Farouq, Reda and several other al-Qaeda operatives were
\nbrought into the country by Parlindungan Siregar in 1999,
\nHendropriyono said. Parlindungan has been declared a suspect in
\nthe Madrid bombing in March last year.<\/p>",
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