Australia raids Indonesians' homes in anti-terrorist crackdown

Australia raids Indonesians' homes in anti-terrorist crackdown

Agencies
Sydney/Jakarta

Heavily-armed Australian federal agents raided homes of
Indonesian Muslims on Wednesday in a nationwide hunt for members
of an Islamic radical group held responsible for the Oct. 12
bombing in Bali, AFP reported.

Indonesia quickly expressed its concern over the raid, which
was part of a crackdown on possible Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) members
operating in Australia. A foreign ministry official in Jakarta
said Australia should have notified Indonesia of the raid
beforehand, citing international rules that require prior
notification when a government proceeds with legal steps against
foreign nationals.

Australian police and intelligence agents armed with
submachine guns and wearing helmets, flak-jackets and masks
smashed their way into two homes in pre-dawn raids in the Perth
suburb of Thornlie in Western Australia.

Also on Wednesday agents in Sydney arrested a 31-year-old man
on visa offenses during the search of a home belonging to another
Indonesian, Ali Basri, whose son Jaya was targeted by a similar
raid on Sunday.

Officials also confirmed two other homes were raided on the
weekend by members of the Australian Security Intelligence
Organization (ASIO) and federal police in a hunt for agents of
JI, an organization which has been put on the list of terrorist
groups by the UN Security Council.

The raids are the first since the Bali bomb blast in which
more than 190 people, half of them Australians, were killed.

No arrests have been made but videos, computers, computer
discs, mobile phones and other material including passports were
taken in the raids, police said.

Attorney General Daryl Williams said the operations were "part
of a wider and ongoing investigation into the possible presence
of Jamaah Islamiyah in Australia."

"We are doing what is necessary in the interests of the
Australian community, and it will be done under proper legal
means," he said.

But neighbors of the targeted homes, civil libertarians and
Muslim community leaders questioned the level of force used in
the raids.

"The federal police hit the fence in the front, hit the
security door and ... broke the door on the side to go through to
the back yard as well," said Jan Herbert, whose home was one of
the two raided in Perth.

Herbert told the Australian Associated Press that police asked
him about his ties to the alleged spiritual leader of JI, Abu
Bakar Ba'asyir, who was arrested by Indonesian police on Oct. 20.

"I meet him when he was giving a lecture in Sydney when he was
in Sydney eight or nine years ago, something like that," he said.
"(I was) just a normal visitor. The main topic (of his) lecture
was he disagreed with (the) Indonesian government," he said.

Indonesian foreign ministry Spokesman Marty Natalegawa said
his office had reminded Canberra through its embassy here of the
international convention Australia had also to comply with when
it takes legal measures against Indonesian nationals residing
there.

"We have been informed that our citizens received heavy handed
treatment from Australian authorities," Marty told The Jakarta
Post on Wednesday.

"They have to inform Indonesian representatives if an
Indonesian national has to go through legal proceedings."

Marty said Canberra had never notified Jakarta prior to or
after the raids.

"Fighting terrorism should not inadvertently violate civil
rights," he asserted.

In its official complaint to the Australian Embassy here,
Jakarta also expressed concerns about remarks made by some
Australian newspapers regarding a certain religion in Indonesia.

"We noted that there were unfriendly remarks against a certain
ethnic group and religion in Indonesia made by some Australian
media," Marty added.

Jaya Basri, 30, who has lived in Australia since 1994 and
whose Sydney home was raided on Sunday, held a press conference
on Wednesday to deny any links to terrorism and express fears
about persecution by Australian authorities.

"I know what the consequences are," he said. "I want to make
it clear to you I have not supported any terrorist activities or
organizations."

Cameron Murphy of the Council for Civil Liberties condemned
the raids as an over-reaction.

"One of the people involved in these raids had simply attended
a lecture," he said.

"Many of these people have innocently gone along to lectures
(to hear speakers who had been) let in by the government, let in
by Islamic religious groups that were not considered terrorist
groups at the time," he said

"There's no evidence of terrorist groups operating in
Australia, no information of any terrorist activity at this
stage."

A spokesman for the Lebanese Muslim Association, Keysar Trad,
said the wider Muslim community was afraid of victimization in
the crackdown.