Police asked to set Ba'asyir free
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta
In a move seen as attempting to influence the legal process, a number of legislators of Muslim-based parties submitted on Friday a letter asking the police to temporarily release terrorist suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir from detention.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that the police headquarters "was considering all the consequences" of honoring such a request, while a criminal law expert said the request should be ignored.
The legislators "guaranteed" that the cleric would not flee. Earlier, party leaders, including Hidayat Nurwahid of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), had also asked for Ba'asyir's temporary release.
After serving 18 months in jail for immigration offenses and document forgery, Ba'asyir was released from Salemba Penitentiary on April 30 but was immediately rearested. Police had cited evidence that he had presided over an inauguration ceremony at the Hudaibiyah military camp run by Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) in Mindanao, southern Philippines, on April 1, 2000.
They also said he had installed a JI branch leader in Surakarta in April 2002, a task entrusted only to a JI leader.
JI is on the United Nations' list of organizations linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, and is blamed for the October 2002 Bali blasts and the August 2003 JW Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta.
Ba'asyir has maintained silence during police questioning, saying that the police are only carrying out the will of the United States, which he claims indiscriminately targets Muslims in its war on terror.
The legislators who wrote to Da'i were Muthamiul Ula and Mashadi of the PKS, Achmad Sumargono and Hamdan Zoelfa of the Crescent Star Party (PBB), Jusuf Muhammad of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Patrialis Akbar of the National Mandate Party (PAN).
However, a professor of criminal law, Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, said that the move could be seen as intervention in the legal process because the police would feel pressured to address the problem. "According to the law, only family members, lawyers or the detainees are allowed to request a temporary release from detention," Harkristuti said.
Jafar Assegaf, the head of Ba'asyir's team of lawyers, said as much public support was needed before the lawyers could submit a request for temporary release.
"House members are respectable citizens who have the power to influence the police," said Jafar.
On the day of his rearrest, hundreds of the cleric's supporters clashed with police outside the prison. Other protests occurred outside Jakarta, the most violent being one Makassar, South Sulawesi, last Saturday.
Ba'asyir was initially sentenced to four years for involvement in an alleged JI plot to overthrow the government but the court said it was not convinced that he actually led the network.
An appeal court overturned the conviction but sentenced Ba'asyir to three years in prison on immigration-related offenses. The Supreme Court halved that sentence last month.
When asked after Friday prayers whether he would request to be released, Ba'asyir said that it was the "Muslim community in general," not himself, who was making the request.