Fathur graduate of Ba'asyir's school

Kartika Bagus C and Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta/Jakarta

An Indonesian, arrested for suspected links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network in the Philippines, received his education at an Islamic boarding school founded and run by Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, in Ngruki village, Sukoharjo, east of Surakarta, Central Java.

"Fathur Rohman studied and graduated from our school. He was a 1999 graduate of our school," one of the school's teachers, Ustad Abu Harits, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

"His last name was not al-Ghozi then, as it is now. It was Ar Rozy ... from Madiun, East Java."

The National Police are scheduled to summon Ba'asyir, who is chief of the Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI), for questioning on Thursday.

"We want to clarify the accusation that he is linked to Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) militants and possibly even al- Qaeda," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf said earlier.

Ba'asyir was detained by Malaysian police last month with 12 other militants for allegedly trying to establish an Islamic government in Malaysia and having ties to a suspect of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Even as Ba'asyir denied having links to al-Qaeda, he told The Post earlier that some of the 12 militants he was arrested with were his former students.

Singapore and Malaysia have also said that Ba'asyir has links with al-Qaeda, but his lawyer has denied this.

Meanwhile, chief of the Islamic boarding school in Surakarta Ustad Farid Ma'aruf said on Wednesday that the Fathur he had known was very interested in Islamic religious affairs and had furthered his studies in Cairo and Pakistan, among other places.

The National Police dispatched a special team of detectives to the Philippines on Tuesday, to gather more information on Fathur.

Philippines police earlier said Fathur had been an explosives expert with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist group that has since opened talks with Manila.

Fathur is of Indonesian origin, but carries many fake passports, including those from Indonesia and the Philippines, and has at least five aliases.

First suspected to be a Canadian national, Fathur continues to baffle police on the matter of his citizenship.

Indonesian police detectives later carried out inquiries among several Arab communities across Java in search of Fathur's true identity, including at Surakarta, Magelang, Madiun, Yogyakarta and Malang in East Java.

"There, we found Fathur was originally from Madiun (East Java). His father, M. Zainuri, is a council member of the Muslim- based Crescent and Star Party," Saleh said.

The Philippines police said Fathur had led police in the southern Philippines on Jan. 17 this year to seize a cache of explosives and weapons meant for attacks in southeast Asian countries and to arrest three Muslim Filipino associates.

Fathur was detained in Manila based on information from Singapore that he was a key leader of the Jemaah Islamiya (JI), which is described as an Islamic militant group operating in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Police believed Fathur had links to al-Qaeda.

Confirming this, an army spokesman in Manila said that Fathur was believed to be the main recruiter of Filipino members for al- Qaeda, and the key link to al-Qaeda in the Philippines.

Fathur, the spokesman said, was believed to be a top member of the al-Qaeda-linked JI, described by Philippines authorities as an Islamic "terror group operating in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia."

"He is the main man here. This guy, I would say, is in charge and has links with other (terrorist groups in) countries than the Philippines," army spokesman Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta said, as quoted by Reuters.

"Within the next few days we shall be filing charges against Fathur," he added.

Mabanta also assured the Muslim population in the southern Philippines that the military would not make arbitrary arrests.

In Malaysia, the police are holding 22 members of a militant Islamic group that planned attacks across southeast Asia and was linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, police and government sources said on Wednesday.

This is the first time Malaysia has said that some, of the total 47 men it had arrested, were members of the JI organization.

"Police have arrested 22 members of JI," a source, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters in Malaysia on Wednesday.