Ba'asyir arrested, questioning delayed

Ba'asyir arrested, questioning delayed

Blontank Poer and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta/Jakarta

Police arrested on Saturday Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir for
his alleged role in various terrorist activities across the
country after he failed to appear for police questioning due to
claims of ill health.

"The arrest warrant has been issued and from now on Ba'asyir
is under police supervision," said the National Police chief of
detectives for General Crimes, Brig. Gen. Ariyanto Sutadi, in
Surakarta, Central Java on Saturday.

Ariyanto said that police would take Ba'asyir from his
hospital room in Surakarta to Jakarta for questioning and the
suspect would be kept in police custody once he recovers. He said
the police team of doctors would also observe Ba'asyir to check
his health.

Ariyanto left Jakarta for Surakarta on Saturday morning along
with the team of doctors.

The 64-year-old cleric of al-Mukmin Ngruki Islamic boarding
school in Surakarta, who is also the chairman of the Indonesian
Mujahidin Council (MMI), was rushed to the hospital on Friday
after he fainted following a media briefing he gave to deny all
allegations made against him.

His arrest, however, was not based on the two regulations that
were signed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Friday night
to deal with the Bali bombing, police said.

Police have not linked Ba'asyir with the Bali incident.

Ba'asyir has been named a suspect in a series of terror
activities here, including a treason plot and bomb attacks across
the country. He is charged under articles in the Criminal Code
(KUHP) and Emergency Law No.12/1951 on the illegal possession of
firearms and explosives, which carries the death penalty.

Ba'asyir, who is also wanted by Singapore authorities for his
alleged role as the mastermind behind last December's fizzled al-
Qaeda plot to bomb U.S. targets there, is also believed to have
connections with Omar al-Faruq, one of al-Qaeda's top
representatives in Southeast Asia.

Ba'asyir refused to sign the arrest warrant on Saturday.

"The allegations (against Ba'asyir) are not valid and the
police have no strong basis to prove that our client is guilty,"
said one of Ba'asyir's lawyers, Achmad Mihdan.

He also said that Ba'asyir's health was improving, and he
quoted Ba'asyir as saying that his client wanted to undergo
questioning within two or three days.

Ba'asyir's other lawyer, M. Mahendradatta, said from the
National Police Headquarters in Jakarta that Adnan Buyung
Nasution and M. Assegaf had agreed to join the defense team.

Police said earlier that they summoned Ba'asyir after al-Faruq
implicated him during questioning by Indonesian investigators
recently. Al-Faruq, who is of Middle Eastern descent and is
married to an Indonesian, is in the U.S. authorities' custody.

"Police investigators have also obtained valuable clues from
witnesses we've questioned in Malaysia and Singapore," said
Ariyanto, who also led the team of investigators dispatched to
question al-Faruq.

Ba'asyir's arrest has drawn mixed reactions, including from
one of the largest Muslim organizations, the Muhammadiyah.

Syafi'i Ma'arif, the chairman of Muhammadiyah, warned the
government to stay independent and deliberate any measure that
requires legal action against suspects linked to terrorism,
including in Ba'asyir's case.

"Without strong evidence, Ba'asyir's arrest and detainment
would give the impression that the government had been influenced
by foreign forces and that impression could in turn backfire on
all the government's measures to combat terrorism here," he told
Antara.

Separately, police questioned al-Faruq's wife, Mira Agustina,
for more than seven hours as a witness.

"The questions posed to Mira revolved around the day-to-day
activities of herself and her husband al-Faruq," said Mira's
lawyer, Hidayat Surya Saleh.

Hidayat said Mira emphasized that she knew nothing about any
terror activities related to the allegations made against her
husband.

"She also said that she didn't know Ba'asyir or Agus Dwikarna,
two names mentioned by investigators as al-Faruq's
acquaintances," said Hidayat.

Agus Dwikarna is an Indonesian businessman who was active in
MMI and was allegedly one of al-Faruq's operatives here. He was
arrested in March in Manila, the Philippines, after airport
security officers discovered plastic explosives and detonation
cables in his suitcase.