Autopsy held in Solo for Ghozi's remains

Autopsy held in Solo for Ghozi's remains
ID Nugroho
The Jakarta Post
Madiun, East Java

The remains of escaped bombmaker Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi was
transported to Solo last night for autopsy, following suspicion
by his family that Al-Ghozi was deliberately murdered by the
Philippine security authority.

"The remains of Al-Ghozi are finally in our hands, but we
found something strange with it. Previous reports said that he
was shot in a gun battle, but we found here that there were sewn
wounds in his remains.

Only the autopsy will shed the light over whether he was
killed in a gun battle or deliberately murdered," Rusman, the
spokesperson of Al-Ghozi family, told reporters in the house of
Al Ghozi in Mojorejo subdistrict, Madiun on Thursday.

The remains of Al-Ghozi arrived in Surabaya on Wednesday night
from the Republic of Philippine, and were immediately transported
to Mojorejo subdistrict for burial.

However, the planned burial in Thursday morning was eventually
canceled after the family, after consultation with the Muslim
Lawyers Team (TPM), considered that the autopsy had to be taken
to determine the cause of Al Ghozi's death.

Previously, an official account cited that Al-Ghozi was killed
in a brief shoot-out near the town of Pigkawayan, Cotabato
province, late on Sunday in a raid launched by the Philippine
authority.

The shoot-out ended the long journey of Al Ghozi, who
previously was sentenced to 17 years in jail in Manila for
illegal possession of explosives last year. Al Ghozi, who was
said to be one of the major operative of the Jamaah Islamiyah
(JI), escaped from a jail sentence in Manila, and was on the run
before he was killed.

Meanwhile, on late Thursday, members of TPM, including Fachmi
Bachmid, and other Muslim activists were seen escorting the
remains of Al-Ghozi, which was transported by an ambulance to
Solo from his house. Mahendradatta, another lawyer of TPM, said
that Al-Ghozi would had autopsy in Moewardi Hospital in Solo.

Fachmi said that Solo was chosen, on the ground it had several
hospitals that were well-equipped. Fachmi also said that several
noted doctors had expressed their readiness to conduct the
autopsy, including Abdul Mun'im Idris from the University of
Indonesia.

After the autopsy, the remains of Al-Ghozi would be
transported back to Mojorejo subdistrict in Madiun for burial.