Police arrest paramilitary Muslim leader in Surabaya

Police arrest paramilitary Muslim leader in Surabaya

JAKARTA (JP): Police arrested the commander of the Ahlus
Sunnah Wal Jamma'ah Muslim group, Ja'far Umar Thalib, on Friday,
on charges of inciting hatred against a religion in the country,
and causing fatal injuries to one of his men.

National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro said on Friday
that police detectives picked Ja'far up at Juanda Airport in
Surabaya, and immediately took him to the National Police
Headquarters for questioning.

Bimantoro said that one of two charges laid against him was
for allegedly applying a sentence laid down in Islamic law known
as rajam (stoning to death) against one of his followers,
reportedly over adultery.

"Rajam is unrecognized in our country. It is a crime
punishable by our existing regulations. My personnel have also
been studying Ja'far for some time," Surojo told reporters at
National Police Headquarters.

Meanwhile, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi
said on Friday that police detectives had been compiling
information on Ja'far since 1999.

"We have been gathering information about Ja'far ... since
1999, and then when he started the jihad (paramilitary) training
camp in Bogor, we started to watch him more closely," Didi told
reporters on Friday.

"We also observed him when he mobilized mass movements from
Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta, to Ambon. The Laskar Jihad group
caused trouble for our police forces in Ambon ... he is allegedly
one of the reasons why there is so little peace in Maluku."

According to official police data, over two years of bloody
communal violence in the Maluku provinces have left around 8,000
people dead and some 230,000 others seeking refugee.

Didi said that Ja'far would be questioned according to
Paragraph a of Article 156a of the Criminal Code on inciting
hatred towards a religion followed in Indonesia, and Article 340
of the Criminal Code on premeditated murder, with maximum
punishment of between five years and 20 years in jail.

Didi said that the preplanned murder occurred on March 25 in
Ambon this year, when Ja'far allegedly had his follower,
Abdullah, buried to the waist before ordering the rest of his men
to stone him to death.

"Abdullah had allegedly committed adultery, but this too
cannot be confirmed, since Abdullah is dead," Didi said.

Meanwhile, about 50 members of Laskar Jihad arrived in a
public minivan on Friday night at the National Police
Headquarters, demanding the release of their leader.

While about 100 police officers kept watch, the Laskar Jihad
members left the headquarters after the protest. (ylt)