Indonesian terror suspect fights deportation ordered by Malaysian

Indonesian terror suspect fights deportation ordered by Malaysian
government

Jasbant Singh
Associated Press
Kuala Lumpur

A suspected leader of the Jamaah Islamiyah militant group who has
been freed from prison in Malaysia is fighting government plans
to deport him to Indonesia, his family and lawyer said on
Tuesday.

After detaining him without trial on security grounds for two
years, the Malaysian government ordered the release of Mohamad
Iqbal Abdul Rahman last month and revoked his permanent residency
status to enable him to be deported back to his home country,
Indonesia.

Confusion has surrounded the release. The government has given
no reason why he was freed -- though the possibility of a
bureaucratic error has been raised -- or what was delaying the
deportation after his residency papers were revoked Aug. 18.

Indonesia has no charges outstanding against Iqbal, but has
said he will be questioned on any links with various bombings
there if he returns to the country.

Malaysian immigration authorities confirmed on Thursday that
Iqbal was still being held at a facility in Kuala Lumpur awaiting
deportation, but declined to say if the expulsion was facing any
holdup.

Iqbal's lawyer, Latifah Koya, said her client was seeking a
High Court order against the government's decision to revoke his
permanent residence status. No hearing date has been fixed.

"My client feels that the government's decision to revoke his
permanent residence status is unfair as he was not given a chance
to explain his side of the story," she told The Associated Press.

If Iqbal wins the decision, the deportation order would become
invalid and allow him to remain in Malaysia, Latifah said.

Malaysian officials say Iqbal, 46, is an Islamic cleric who
came to Malaysia in the mid-1980s along with other Indonesians,
including alleged Jamaah Islamiyah leaders Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and
Hambali, or Riduan Isamuddin, and began teaching a radical
version of the faith.

Ba'asyir, a radical Muslim preacher, was convicted of treason
by a Jakarta court this month and sentenced to four years
imprisonment.

Hambali, who was arrested in Thailand last month and is in
U.S. custody, allegedly masterminded last year's Bali nightclub
blasts, which killed 202 people, and the attack on the JW
Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last month, which killed 12.

Hambali allegedly became more prominent in Jamaah Islamiyah
after Iqbal was arrested in June 2001 in Malaysia during a sweep
of alleged members of the Malaysian Militant Group, or KMM.

The KMM has been determined to be a component of Jamaah
Islamiyah, which seeks to establish a pan-Islamic state in
Southeast Asia and has strong links to al-Qaeda.

Iqbal's release gave hope to other detainees that they might
be freed after serving their initial two-year arrest orders under
the Internal Security Act, which provides for indefinite
detention without trial.

But on Tuesday, the government extended the imprisonment of
nine other suspected militants for another two years.

Iqbal's wife, Fatimah Zahrah Abdul Aziz, denied her husband
had links with terror groups or had carried out any militant
activities. She is still in Malaysia.

"He is a religious preacher, that's all," she told The
Associated Press. "We have lived in this country for so many
years and I hope we can continue to stay here."