Indonesia ready to freeze JI assets, accounts: Official
Indonesia ready to freeze JI assets, accounts: Official
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is ready to freeze assets and accounts belonging to 10 Indonesian terrorist suspects once the United Nations endorses a United States proposal to that effect, an official says.
The U.S. submitted a proposal to the UN Security Council over the weekend, seeking to freeze accounts of 10 members of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional terrorist network blamed for a string of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, including the deadly Bali bombings on Oct. 12, 2002, and the JW Marriott Hotel bombing on Aug. 5, 2003.
At least seven of 20 suspected JI terrorists are Indonesians, some of whom are currently on trial for their role in the Bali bombings, which killed at least 202 people and injured over 300 others.
The U.S. proposal would automatically become a UN resolution if no member country raised any objection to the move within 72 hours.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on Sunday Jakarta would freeze assets belonging to suspected terrorists as it was the obligation of any UN member to comply with its decision.
"These individuals, at various levels, are clearly persons of interest to Indonesia and have appeared in Indonesian courts for their terror acts," Marty told The Jakarta Post.
"The Indonesian government needs to entertain fully and will freeze the accounts and assets as required by the UN," he said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said, at the end of a finance ministers meeting of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member countries in Phuket, Thailand, on Friday, that Washington had frozen the accounts and assets of 10 members of the JI network.
Washington had also proposed the list to the UN Security Council and, should there be no objections from other UN member countries within 72 hours, then all countries were required to freeze the assets and accounts of those on the list.
The 10 JI members were Yasin Syawal, Mukhlis Yunos, Imam Samudra, Huda bin Abdul Haq, alias Mukhlas, Parlindungan Siregar, Aris Munandar, Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, Agus Dwikarna, Abul Hakim Murad and Julkipli Salim Y Salamuddin.
On Saturday, Washington added another 10 names to the list, mostly Malaysians who were said to be members of the terrorist network.
The UN is expected to announce the decision on Monday.
Marty said freezing the terrorists' assets and accounts was being carried out under UN Security Council Resolution 1267/2001 on the obligation of UN members to freeze all assets of terrorist suspects related to the al-Qaeda network, accused of perpetrating the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.
Marty underlined that as a UN member, Indonesia had an obligation to comply with the resolution.
In Indonesia the freezing of bank accounts may be carried out only after there have been requests from the Attorney General's Office to Bank Indonesia, the central bank.
Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Sunday that Washington had provided Indonesian police with a transcript of the interrogation of terrorist suspect Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali, who is currently in U.S. custody.
"We have received a full interrogation report from the U.S., but need to cross-check the data,' Da'i said, as quoted by Antara on Sunday.
Indonesia has been seeking direct access to and independent interrogation of Hambali, who had been implicated in the Bali bombings and Marriott attack, as well as a string of church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000.