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)