Hidayat's LP2SI cleard of terror link
Hidayat's LP2SI cleard of terror link
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The U.S. government admitted on Thursday it had made a blunder --
listing the address of Hidayat Nur Wahid's Al-Haramain
educational foundation as the headquarters of an alleged terror
group.
Despite the mistake, no apology was forthcoming from the U.S.
Ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph Boyce, who met with the Prosperous
and Justice Party leader and presidential aspirant here on
Thursday.
The U.S. filed a petition to the United Nations early this
year accusing an organization with a similar name to Hidayat's
group -- the Al-Haramain -- institution, as one that funded
terrorist groups. While the name of the organization was correct,
the U.S. had erroneously listed the Hidayat group's address for
the headquarters of the Jakarta branch.
The Institution of Pesantren Services and Islamic Studies
(LP2SI) Al Haramain, which is lead by Hidayat, is located in
Jatipadang, South Jakarta while the Indonesian branch of the
Saudi group Al-Haramain is in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta.
"After our further review, which included a consultation with
the government of Indonesia and clarifying information provided
by officials of LP2SI, the US government has decided to request
the UN to make an appropriate technical change and remove the
address of LP2SI from the UN's consolidated 1267 list," said
Stanley Harsha, the press attache of the US embassy in Jakarta
who represented the ambassador.
The UN's consolidated list contains the names of all
organizations alleged to be linked with terrorism. Once on the
list, an entity is subject to international sanctions such as
having their accounts frozen and loans denied.
Harsha said the Indonesian branch of the Saudi-based Al-
Haramain organization -- also known as Al-Manahil -- would remain
on the UN consolidated list.
Boyce, who spoke with Hidayat for about half an hour, released
a written statement. The release made no explicit apology to
Hidayat.
According to the statement, on Jan. 22, 2004, the U.S.
government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia jointly requested that
the UN 1267 Sanction Committee designate the Indonesian branch of
Saudi-based Al-Haramain group as a terrorist group.
"This action was taken after consultations and coordination
between the U.S. and Saudi Governments," Harsha said while
reading the State Department press release.
The joint U.S-Saudi designation requested that the Indonesian
branch be included on the list. The designation also listed the
address of LP2SI as an address for the Saudi-based Al-Haramain.
"The ambassador said in our meeting the correction would be
made within a few days. However, we will wait until one week and
take legal action if no correction is done. We will bring all
parties to court if they still continue to accuse us of being a
terrorist group," said Hidayat.
The U.S. government has made many claims associating
organizations and countries with terrorism, but on many
occasions, they have failed to prove the accusations.
In October last year, the U.S. proposed the British Charity
Commission, which oversees the operations of all U.K. charity
foundations, freeze all accounts belonging to Interpal, a Muslim
charity, because it was believed it channeled money to terrorist
groups.
A month later, the Charity Commission dropped its
investigations because the U.S. could not provide sufficient
evidence linking Interpal with terrorism.