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.