Jibril guilty of immigration offense
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Militant cleric, Fihiruddin Moqtie bin Abdul Rahman, alias Abu Jibril, was sentenced to five and a half month's jail at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday for passport fraud but is set to walk free in a matter of days.
Jibril, who is the elder brother of Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) chairman Irfan Awwas, was deported from Malaysia where he was a member of a similar organization, earlier this year.
In his verdict, judge Sudradjat Dimyati said 47-year-old Jibril first changed his name from Fihir to Fihiruddin Moqtie bin Abdul Rahman on his identity card and later identified himself as Muhammad Iqbal bin Arrahman to obtain a passport, number K566889, issued by the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in April 1999.
The passport also stated Abu was born in Yogyakarta, while his actual birthplace was Labuan Haji in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.
"Jibril admitted to using a broker and colluding with an official at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur," Sudradjat said.
He will be freed from jail in 10 days as the court deducted time he had already been in Indonesian police custody from his sentence. The maximum jail term for passport fraud is two years.
Jibril was first arrested under the Internal Security Act by Malaysian police in June 2001 when was about to deliver a sermon in Shah Alam, Selangor.
Malaysian police accused him of involvement in terrorist- related activities that posed a threat to the country's security and he remained in custody until his deportation from Malaysia on May 14 this year.
Following his deportation, Jibril was taken into police custody at Salemba Prison in Central Jakarta.
But police here did not implicate Jibril in acts of terror, citing a lack of evidence.
"This has been (my) fate (from) God which I should take with an open heart. However, I'm not pleased with the sentence, not even for one day. This is all a wickedness," Jibril said.
His lawyer, Munarman, from the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute said he was disappointed with the verdict.
"Jibril had changed his name (into Muhammad Iqbal bin Arrahman) before he left Indonesia," he said.
When asked whether he planned to appeal the verdict, Munarman said he would discuss it first with his client.
Jibril was an active member of the Malaysian Mujaheedin which is believed to have a connection with Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), the organization held responsible for terror attacks across Indonesia for the past few years.
Ba'asyir, who is also a MMI founder, will stand trial on Oct. 28 for his alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings and the bomb attack on the JW Marriott Hotel last year.
Ba'asyir spent some years in Malaysia before he returned to Indonesia in the wake of former president Soeharto's resignation.