Ba'asyir lobbies Muslims for support

P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is seeking support from the country's Islamic organizations as police ready a formal investigation into his alleged involvement in several terror attacks here.

"The support from Muslim organizations serves as a social control, since the police are likely to overreact in their handling of Uztad Abu's case because of pressure from the U.S. in the absence of legal evidence," said Achmad Michdan, a member of Ba'asyir's team of lawyers.

"The National Police are one of the country's law enforcement bodies -- they should prove their professionalism by maintaining their neutrality and avoiding foreign pressure," Achmad said.

Ba'asyir's team was lobbying Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to closely observe the police probe into their client. A meeting with MUI executives had been arranged for Monday, he said.

Hidayat Nurwahid, the leader of the Prosperous Justice Party, visited Ba'asyir on Saturday at the Salemba Penitentiary, where Ba'asyir is serving 18 months for immigration violations.

Another Ba'asyir lawyer, Muhammad Ali, said Hidayat came to provide morale support for his client.

Hidayat, whose party looks certain to finish among the top six in this year's legislative election, also visited Ba'asyir when he was detained by police early last year.

"I am against terrorism and support the rule of law, but I object to any foreign intervention. I am worried that those who blindly accuse others of being terrorists without having evidence are the real radicals and terrorists," Hidayat said as quoted by Reuters.

Ali said Ba'asyir would refuse to cooperate in any police interrogation.

He said the rejection was based on a strong belief the U.S. had intervened in the legal process.

"Any approval to again detain my client for the purposes of an investigation will only prove the U.S. intervention," Ali said.

Police had yet to elaborate on what cases (of terrorism) the cleric was allegedly involved in and what roles he played in those cases, he said.

"It looks like (the police) are scrambling around, there is no clarity here," he said.

Police have named Ba'asyir as a terror suspect and will charge him with planning or persuading others to commit acts of terror and assisting or abetting the commission of acts of terror, crimes that carry a maximum death sentence according to Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism.

Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Sunday welcomed Indonesia's moves to investigate Ba'asyir.

Downer described Ba'asyir as the spiritual leader of the Al- Qaeda-linked terror group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), responsible for the October 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

"The fact that the Indonesian police and other authorities are now looking at further charges is encouraging. This is, of course, an internal matter for the Indonesians but we have had quite considerable contact with Indonesian authorities over the last few weeks on this matter," Downer said as quoted by AFP.