Laskar Jihad commander decries arrest, considers suing police

Yogita Tahilramani and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Arrested commander of Laskar Jihad Ja'far Umar Thalib denied any wrongdoing on Sunday and is now considering launching a pretrial lawsuit against the National Police over his arrest, which he claims was baseless and lacked sufficient evidence.

One of Ja'far's team of lawyers, Mahendradatta, said on Sunday his client would go ahead with his plan to challenge his arrest this week.

"We have discussed the option of filing a pretrial lawsuit against the National Police, which Ja'far is taking seriously. We are just waiting for his confirmation," Mahendradatta told The Jakarta Post.

Ja'far was detained at Juanda Airport in Surabaya after flying from restive Maluku province on charges of agitation and slanderous remarks against the President.

Police used tape recordings of speeches encouraging Muslims to fight Christians, which Ja'far made before and after the recent bloody attack on Soya as evidence to detain Ja'far, although, according to the law, a recording cannot be presented as evidence.

Ja'far could be heard on the tape calling on the Muslim crowd at Al-Fatah Mosque in Ambon to prepare bombs, ammunition and fire them at their enemies.

"There is no Malino II (government-initiated peace agreement signed by Maluku's Muslim and Christian leaders in January), there can be no reconciliation with non-Muslims. We will fight them until our last drop of blood," he is recorded saying. He also expressed his intention to kill relatives of the late former president Sukarno, whose daughter is President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The peace agreement suggested outsiders Laskar Jihad and other extremists should leave Maluku.

Mahendradatta said on Sunday that unless Ja'far agreed that he had said "everything" in the recorded speeches, police lacked sufficient evidence to arrest the Muslim figure.

"My client must first accept those speeches were entirely his and delivered by him, including all their content. Otherwise, it cannot be presented at court as evidence," Mahendradatta said.

Ja'far was questioned by police for nine hours on Saturday, but refused to sign any police forms that indicated or stated his acceptance of his arrest and detention. He also rejected "the contents of the recorded speeches, claiming he had never made some of the statements".

National Police detective chief of general crimes Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi, who led the police team who arrested Ja'far, said on Sunday that Ja'far felt the tape-recorded speeches were not clear enough for him to decipher, and demanded to be given transcripts of the speeches.

Upon receiving the transcripts, he started scribbling out whatever he felt he had not said in the two "provocative" speeches, which he had earlier delivered.

But Aryanto said Ja'far's denial would not thwart the police's move to bring the Muslim cleric to court.

"Aside from the tape recordings, we have several eye witnesses who saw and heard him make those speeches. It is my hope that there will be no political pressure to get this man (Ja'far) released," Aryanto told the Post.

Exactly a year before Saturday's arrest, Ja'far was arrested also at Juanda Airport over murder charges. He was then alleged to have ordered his followers to stone one of Laskar Jihad's members to death for adultery.

Although the murder charge was never dropped, he was released from detention on May 15 last year and placed under house arrest, which was also dropped on June 12, 2001.

"Last year, we released Ja'far because we came under pressure. We wanted to dig up the corpse for further investigation, but he warned us it would spark riots. The police are just waiting for the right time, to dig up the corpse," said Aryanto.

Some Laskar Jihad supporters arrived on Sunday morning at National Police Headquarters amid extra tight police security, who refused to allow more than one person at a time to visit Ja'far.

One of the supporters said that Laskar Jihad supporters would visit their leader on Monday.

Separately, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on Sunday that Ja'far's arrest was part of efforts to implement stricter law enforcement, which was needed to curb the growing violence in Ambon. He further warned Ja'far and his followers against any use of pressure to influence the legal process being taken by police.

"Should the police have strong reasons as well as evidence, they (the police) must not worry whether their decision will face strong opposition from certain people who feel they are being treated unfairly," Endriartono said.

He added that rather than using his mob's power to oppose the legal process, Ja'far should prove whether or not he had violated the law.