Police to grill Iqbal over attacks<\/p>\n
Agencies, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia hopes to clarify details surrounding the possible
\ndeportation of a man from Malaysia, and question him over
\npossible top-level links to regional terror network Jamaah
\nIslamiyah (JI).<\/p>\n
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said Tuesday that
\nthe government was waiting for details regarding the deportation
\nof Mohammad Iqbal Abdul Rahman, alias Abu Jibril.<\/p>\n
\"... and Iqbal will be asked to clarify his possible
\ninvolvement with several militant groups here.\"<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia wished to question Iqbal in relation to a
\nnumber of terror attacks carried out in Indonesia and his links
\nto militant organizations and JI.<\/p>\n
Hassan dismissed earlier reports that Iqbal had been sent to
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
\"They (Malaysian authorities) have yet to decide when and
\nwhere the process will be conducted.\"<\/p>\n
Iqbal was arrested under Malaysia's Internal Security Act in
\nJune 2001 and is expected to be deported when the maximum
\nallowable detention period expires.<\/p>\n
Though Iqbal was detained along with 90 other people on
\nsuspicion of belonging to JI, he has never been charged with any
\ncrime.<\/p>\n
Both Iqbal and the alleged leader of JI, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir,
\nfled Indonesia for Malaysia together in 1985 to escape former
\npresident Soeharto's repressive regime.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir is currently being tried in connection with plotting
\nto kill President Megawati Soekarnoputri when she was vice
\npresident, and a series of bombings in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Iqbal is the brother of Irfan S. Awwas, a senior leader of the
\nIndonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), which is chaired by Ba'asyir.<\/p>\n
Separately, Iqbal's wife, Fatimah Zahrah Abdul Aziz, who still
\nlives in Malaysia, said she met her husband at the immigration
\ndetention center in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"He is in good health. We are appealing to the government not
\nto deport him,\" she told AFP.<\/p>\n
\"My husband said he is not involved in any militant activities
\nnor linked to Jamaah Islamiyah. My husband is just a simple
\nreligious preacher,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Fatimah, an Indonesian who like her husband holds permanent
\nresident status in Malaysia, said \"no date has been fixed when
\nthe government will deport him.\"<\/p>\n
Malaysian terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, however, told AFP
\non Tuesday that Iqbal was \"a very significant figure\" in JI.<\/p>\n
\"After Ba'asyir, he is the senior ideological leader in the
\norganization. He is a very important man, comparable to Hambali,
\nbut he is ideological, less operational,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-to-grill-iqbal-over-attacks-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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