Legal protection sought for Indonesian detained in RP

Legal protection sought for Indonesian detained in RP

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Human rights activists have called on the government to ensure
legal protection for all Indonesians being detained in the
Philippines on charges of terrorist acts and to demand Manila to
present evidence for the charges.

"Every citizen, including suspected terrorists, deserve
government assistance," noted lawyer and rights advocate Todung
Mulya Lubis told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The government must ensure that Indonesia citizens who face
criminal offense charges abroad are not abused during
interrogation, said Todung.

Munir, a noted human rights activist and co-founder of the
National Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence
(Kontras), urged the government to ask for clarification from the
Filipino authorities on whether the four Indonesian citizens had
links to terrorist groups.

"Calling these men terrorists could mean slander if the police
fail to provide evidence of their allegations. Or, may be the
Philippines wants to humiliate our country?" Munir remarked.

The spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy in Manila, Triyogo
Djatmiko, confirmed on Tuesday the arrest of Uskar Makawata, 40,
on charges of involvement in a mall bombing in General Santos
city in the southern Phillipines on April 21. Triyogo also said
the government would provide legal assistance to Uskar and three
other Indonesians being held in Manila.

"Uskar is currently being detained at the Police Headquarters.
Two Filipino suspects in the bombing case have identified him as
a member of a group which planned the attacks," Triyogo said
without elaborating.

The three other Indonesians, Rahman Yanis, 22, Jaka Antarani,
27 and Julkri Letombobo, 18, were being held at the immigration
center and were awaiting deportation due to the lack of proper
documents, according to Triyogo.

"We have visited them and will give legal assistance during
the legal process," he said.

Meanwhile, deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives A.M.
Fatwa urged the government not to be trapped into the way the
U.S. conducted the war on terrorism.

"The U.S. has thus far failed to prove whether or not our
citizens have a link with al-Qaeda," Fatwa said as quoted by
Antara.

Earlier this year Philippine authorities arrested Agus
Dwikarna and businessman Tamsil Linrung for alleged possession of
explosives.

Another Indonesian, Fathur Rohman Al Ghozi, is currently
serving a 12-year jail term in the Philippines after being
declared guilty of possessing illegal explosives.

In a related development, Al Ghozi testified before a
Philippine prosecutor that he was part of a plot by an Islamic
militant group to conduct a bombing campaign in Singapore.

Al Ghozi said top leaders of the Jamaah Islamiyah group came
to Manila in December 2000 and ordered him to "buy five to seven
tons of explosives and to take them to Singapore to be used
there."

He identified the leaders as Riduan Isamuddin, an Indonesian
Islamic teacher, and Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, a former Singaporean
who is now a Malaysian national.

Al Ghozi said he went to Singapore in November 2000 on orders
from Faiz Abu Bakar to see the latter's brother Fathi Abu Bakar
Bafana.

"While I was there, we went to scout the U.S. and Israeli
embassies which are our main targets," he said as quoted by AFP.
"This was one of the reasons why I was sent to the Philippines to
buy explosives."

Police took Al Ghozi from his cell and escorted him Thursday
to the justice department to submit his written deposition taken
by police investigators here in July.

The prosecutor, Roberto Lao, is conducting a preliminary
hearing on a police recommendation to indict Fais Abu Bakar
Bafana and Isamuddin on explosives charges.

Filipino police allege that Isamuddin, who is at large and is
known to Southeast Asian intelligence officials by his alias
"Hambali", is one of the top leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah.

Fais Abu Bakar Bafana was among 13 Islamic militants detained
by Singapore in late 2001 in connection with the bomb plots on
the foreign embassies there.

The Jemaah Islamiyah is a Southeast Asian Islamic militant
group outlawed in Malaysia and Singapore.

Authorities in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia allege
Jamaah Islamiyah has ties to the al Qaeda network of Osama bin
Laden, the main suspect in the September 11 attacks in the United
States.

Al Ghozi said he met his two alleged superiors after
completing guerrilla training in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The
two men funneled the funds used to buy explosives through three
bank accounts in the Philippines in Al Ghozi's name, the detainee
said.

He said he bought 70 kilograms (154 pounds) of explosives in
the central city of Cebu in November 2000, and that some of the
material was used to bomb the Manila light rail system on
December 30, 2000, killing 22 people and injuring more than 100
others.

After that, Al Ghozi said he bought 1.2 tons of explosives and
took them to the southern city of General Santos.

The huge cache was seized by Filipino police last January 17,
shortly after Al Ghozi was arrested in Manila.

Hambali and Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana provided Al Ghozi "with
funds to finance the purchase of the said explosives which were
intended for their Jihad program in the region," said Chief
Inspector Guillermo Danipog of the police intelligence group.

Singapore detained 21 suspected terrorists last month as well
as specific targets they were looking at. Some of them had
allegedly undergone military training at al-Qaeda camps in
Afghanistan.

Their arrest brings to 34 the number of suspects held under
the city-state's tough Internal Security Act.

The original 13 were said to be targeting the U.S. embassy and
other Western targets, as well as a busy underground railway
station.