Legislators demand Ba'asyir release

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