Legislators demand Ba'asyir release

JAKARTA: Some members of the House of Representatives (DPR) security commission demanded on Tuesday the release of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and gave what they called a "guarantee" that the cleric would not abscond.

Commission deputy chairman Hamdan Zoelva of the Muslim-based Crescent Star Party (PBB), said after a meeting with Ba'asyir's lawyers and representatives of two Islamic organizations headed by the cleric that the rearrest and subsequent detention of Ba'asyir was wrong as it was the result of intervention by the U.S. government.

"It is not possible for (Ba'asyir) to flee and destroy evidence as he is already too old," Hamdan said.

The lawyers later went to the National Commission on Human Rights to state their case. -- Antara