Ba'asyir rejects U.S. intelligence report

Blontank Poer and Adianto Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta/Jakarta

Detained cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir strongly rejected on Friday a United States intelligence report linking him to a string of bomb attacks in the country, saying the report was manipulated by the U.S. and its allies.

Ba'asyir, who is serving an 18-month sentence for immigration offenses, accused the U.S. of intimidating Riduan Isamuddin alias Hambali. Hambali is believed to be the leader of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), the suspected terrorist network accused of carrying out the Bali and Marriott Hotel bombings.

"Don't try to intimidate Indonesia. Please, send the U.S. intelligence agent to the prison. I will be ready for the investigation," Ba'asyir told The Jakarta Post by phone from the Salemba Prison in Jakarta on Friday.

Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said Thursday his office had received a transcript of an interview with Hambali that could shed light on Ba'asyir's involvement in JI.

JI has been blamed for a series of terrorist attacks in the country, including the deadly Bali bombings on Oct. 12, 2002 and the Marriott Hotel attacks in Jakarta on Aug. 5, 2003.

Sixty five-year-old Ba'asyir demanded the U.S. allow him to meet Hambali, who has been in the U.S. custody since his arrest in August in Thailand.

He acknowledged he had known Hambali since 1986 when they lived nearby in Selangor, Malaysia. Hambali defended and fought for Islam, he said.

Ba'asyir said Hambali had collected money from businessmen and Muslims in Malaysia and other countries to help Muslims in Ambon after sectarian conflicts broke out there in January 1999.

Ba'asyir, who recently had his three-year jail term reduced to 18 months by the Supreme Court, suspected that U.S. intelligence had intimidated Hambali during investigation.

"I believe Hambali was tortured to make a fake testimony. When it comes to its foreign policy interests, the U.S. always ignores ethics and human rights," he said.

Separately, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Friday that although the U.S. had distributed copies of Hambali's testimonies, Indonesia still demanded direct access to the Indonesian-born terrorist suspect.

"The problem remains. Indonesia must be given access to Hambali," he said in Jakarta.

Marty said the U.S. release of Hambali's testimony should not be linked to Ba'asyir.

"Those documents are given to us in response to our demand for access to Hambali. They have nothing to do with Ba'asyir," he said, refusing to unveil the substance of the U.S. intelligence report.

Marty said Indonesia had kept on demanding access to Hambali because it wanted to him to face an Indonesian court for his alleged involvement in the bomb attacks.

Responding to the request of U.S. and Australia that Indonesia extend the jail term for Ba'asyir, Marty said the Ba'asyir case had progressed through proper legal channels.