Indonesia blocks plan for deportation of JI suspect

Indonesia blocks plan for deportation of JI suspect

Sean Yoong, Associated Press , Kuala Lumpur

Indonesia blocked a plan over the weekend to repatriate an alleged leader of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group from Malaysia because he gave false information used to prepare travel documents, officials said on Monday.

Supeno Sahid, a senior consular official at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, said travel documents for Mohammad Iqbal Rahman were canceled on Friday because of "technical problems."

These stemmed from "incorrect information" that Iqbal had provided the embassy concerning his name and his date and place of birth, Supeno told The Associated Press.

Iqbal is an Indonesian who has been detained without trial in Malaysia for the past 2 1/2 years.

Malaysian authorities have since August been preparing to send Iqbal back to Indonesia, where police officials have repeatedly said he has no criminal record and is unlikely to be arrested.

Iqbal's wife, Fatimah Zahrah Abdul Aziz, acting on instructions from immigration officials, had bought him a ticket for a Sunday flight and had already checked in to join him when she learned that the plan had been called off. She said immigration officials told her the deportation had been postponed indefinitely.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Monday refused to say why the deportation had been stopped, saying: "For issues of security, I don't have to explain."

When asked if the government still planned to deport Iqbal, Badawi said: "Well, we have to decide when it is going to be done." But he declined to confirm that this comment meant Iqbal would be deported.

A Malaysian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Indonesia has asked that Iqbal be held indefinitely while "discrepancies" in his paperwork were sorted out.