Government to let suspect Ba'asyir go

P.C. Naommy and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights will release terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir when he completes his jail term on April 30 and deliver him to his family, the minister has said.

"We acknowledge that Ba'asyir is an Indonesian citizen and therefore, we will protect his rights as a citizen," justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said after a ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ministry's penitentiary directorate general.

Yusril, also leader of the Crescent Star Party (PBB) -- which has a political platform based on sharia, or Islamic law -- said the government's recognition of Ba'asyir's Indonesian citizenship would benefit the cleric.

"If he was stateless, he must be deported. But as he is our citizen, there is no way for other parties, including the United States, to ask for his extradition. We are obliged to protect our citizens and not hand them over to other countries," Yusril said.

The statement came as the police set an April 28 date for interrogating Ba'asyir over his alleged role in terrorist activities across the country. The interrogation was originally scheduled for Monday, but Ba'asyir refused to turn up due to a clerical error in which the police summons was addressed to the warden of Salemba Penitentiary, Central Jakarta, where he is serving his sentence -- and not Ba'asyir personally.

The justice ministry had doubted Ba'asyir's claim to Indonesian citizenship after his arrest in October 2002, shortly after the Bali bombings that killed at least 202 people.

Ba'asyir was indicted for treason, terrorism and immigration violations, but a lower court found him guilty of only immigration offenses and document forgery, and sentenced him to 18 months.

Police named Ba'asyir a suspect in terrorist activities last month, but had never specifically linked him to the Bali blasts, even though the cleric is thought to be the spiritual leader of regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), on which blame was placed.

Brig. Gen. Pranowo, Director VI of the antiterrorism and bomb department at National Police headquarters, said on Tuesday the Muslim cleric would be questioned on Wednesday from 9 a.m. at Salemba.

The police moved the site of the interrogation from police headquarters upon the request of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI).

Several Islamic organizations have gone to police headquarters to demand that Ba'asyir be released and have rejected all plans to retain him under police custody after he completes his jail term.

The Antiterrorism Law allows police to detain a terror suspect up to six months.

"The plan to keep Ba'asyir in detention is unfair, especially as it came just as his jail term was ending. Ba'asyir has said he will cooperate during the interrogation if police do not put him in detention," MUI secretary-general Din Syamsudin, who met with police on behalf of the Muslim organizations, told National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono and National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Basyir Barmawi.

Suyitno and Barmawi said they would convey the organizations' complaints to National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, who is currently in Mecca on a minor haj.