Jihad chief changes mind, continues police lawsuit

JAKARTA (JP): The commander of Laskar Jihad Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammaah, Ja'far Umar Thalib, retracted on Friday his offer to cancel his lawsuit against the police for unlawful arrest following failed negotiations with the police.

At a hearing in a pretrial motion concerning his arrest, Ja'far's lawyers told the South Jakarta District Court that their client would continue with the lawsuit against the National Police due to failed negotiations.

Lawyer Wirawan Adnan told the court that during talks his client and the police had failed to find common ground, and therefore his client would proceed with the lawsuit against the police.

Another lawyer for Ja'far, Soleh Amin, announced during a break in the pretrial hearing that there would be no deal with the police.

He said the decision to press on with the lawsuit against the police was made by Ja'far together with his litigation lawyers led by Eggy Sudjana and non-litigation lawyers led by legislator Hartono Mardjono.

During the break, Ja'far also explained to reporters that going ahead with his lawsuit over his arrest would be the best way to resolve the matter.

"My team of lawyers has left the decision to me. And after conducting the istikharah (prayer asking for God's guidance), I decided to continue with the lawsuit," Ja'far said.

The court on Thursday granted Ja'far a day to meet with National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro to attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement.

On Thursday, Ja'far was confident that the police would drop the charges against him and would change the status of his arrest from house to city arrest.

Ja'far was arrested for allegedly inciting religious hostility and ordering the murder of one of his followers, who was stoned to death in Maluku for adultery. He argued that such punishment was stipulated in Islamic law.

Meanwhile, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi said on Friday that the police had no problem with Ja'far suing the National Police.

"Our job is to continue our investigations into the murder charge and that of sowing hatred against a religion. The National Police will not compromise on this issue ... we never will," Didi announced at National Police Headquarters.

"Let the courts decide on the matter of the lawsuit. Hukum rajam (a ruling of death by stoning) is considered murder according to prevailing regulations ... there is no valid reason for police to stop investigating the murder."

Ja'far is suing the police over his May 4 arrest, which Ja'far's legal team describes as unlawful because the arrest was not proceeded with two summons as required by law.

National Police legal counsel Sr. Comr. Soeyitno said in his argument that the police did not have to issue two investigation summons before arresting the leader of the hard-line Muslim group because they already had enough evidence to arrest him.

"The arrest was based on the police's preliminary investigation and not because we caught him red-handed. We complied with the proper procedure, therefore we asked the court to declare the arrest lawful," he said.

The police provided written statements from 39 witnesses to be read out in the hearing, while Ja'far's team of lawyers presented five witnesses, including the plaintiff's brother-in-law Abdul Gofar Mahdan.

Abdul Gofar testified that he was with Ja'far and Laskar Jihad member Mohamad Irgi when Ja'far was arrested on May 4 at Juanda Airport in Surabaya, the capital of East Java.

He said that five plainclothes detectives showed Ja'far the arrest warrant and forced him to go with them.

"Ja'far replied that he was not a fugitive and he would go in a gentlemanly manner to meet their superior. But the police got in Ja'far's Panther minivan and took the driver's seat. We sat in the front passenger's seat, while three of the policemen sat in the back."

The hearing was adjourned until Monday. (bby/ylt)