Ba'asyir faces suspect status<\/p>\n
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police officially declared on Wednesday that the alleged
\nspiritual leader of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) Abubakar Ba'asyir was
\ninvolved in the Oct. 12 Bali bombing and may soon be named a
\nsuspect.<\/p>\n
The police claim they have found early indications of
\nBa'asyir's involvement in the Bali bombing and are building up a
\ncase to declare him a suspect, said spokesman for the police
\ninvestigating team Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis.<\/p>\n
He said information obtained from detained Bali bomb suspects
\nhad revealed Ba'asyir's involvement. Zainuri said the JI
\nspiritual leader knew about the plot but added there was more
\nevidence linking him to the bombing.<\/p>\n
So far the police have only said that Ba'asyir had precise
\nknowledge of the bombing and had given his blessing to the terror
\noperation.<\/p>\n
Zainuri said Ba'asyir also held meetings with some or all of
\nthe Bali bomb key suspects, Amrozi, Mukhlas, Ali Imron and Abdul
\nAzis alias Imam Samudra. They claimed to have met Ba'asyir after
\nthe bombing to report the operation, which claimed more than 190
\nlives, mostly foreign tourists.<\/p>\n
But Zainuri declined to say to what extend Ba'asyir was
\ninvolved in the bombing or whether he had taken an active role in
\nit.<\/p>\n
\"We'll disclose the evidence once Ba'asyir has officially been
\nnamed a suspect in the Bali bombing case,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Zainuri said the team's priority was to finalize the dossiers
\nof Amrozi and Samudra so they could be brought to trial next
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
Investigators were also preoccupied with hunting 10 more
\nsuspects, including three Malaysian nationals and Dulmatin,
\nthe alleged assembler of the bombs.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir is currently under police detention for his alleged
\nrole in a string of church bombings on Christmas Eve in 2000.<\/p>\n
He is also being detained over suspicion that he planned to
\nassassinate President Megawati Soekarnoputri.<\/p>\n
Zainuri said Ba'asyir status as a suspect would likely have to
\nwait until he had been tried for the above charges.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir who leads the Al Mukmin Islamic boarding school in
\nNgruki, Central Java, has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of
\nJI and its operations. He also denied charges he was involved in
\nthe Bali bombing.<\/p>\n
The police's decision to officially link the Muslim cleric to
\nthe Bali bombing increases the likelihood of the Bali terrorist
\nstrike being the work of an organized group rather than a
\ncollection of individuals as has been the picture so far.<\/p>\n
Included in the United Nations list of terrorist groups, JI is
\nbelieved to be fighting for a Pan-Southeast Asian Islamic State.<\/p>\n
It operates on a regional scale with bases reportedly also in
\nSingapore and Malaysia.<\/p>\n
JI's largely clandestine nature has made it difficult for
\ninvestigators to uncover its network here and to establish a link
\nbetween it and Bali. Until Tuesday, police have refrained from
\nmaking that connection. Suspects who were members or had ties to
\nthe organization and the naming of three Malaysians suspects had
\nbeen the only signs of a possible JI involvement.<\/p>\n
But in an unexpected announcement, National Police chief Gen.
\nDa'i Bachtiar said on Tuesday that the Bali bombing had received
\nBa'asyir's blessing.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/baasyir-faces-suspect-status-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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