Police place Ba'asyir under detention

Police place Ba'asyir under detention

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police placed Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a suspect for his
alleged role in a string of bomb attacks across the country,
under their custody on Sunday following his arrest overnight
Saturday.

Surakarta police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Bambang Hermanu said
more officers were deployed to guard Ba'asyir at the Muhammadiyah
Hospital where he is being treated for heart and respiratory
ailments.

Bambang, who visited Ba'asyir on Sunday, told Antara the team
of police doctors believed the suspect's condition was improving
but he remained unfit for questioning.

Ba'asyir could have been arrested earlier when terrorist
suspect Omar al-Faruq, who is in the custody of United States
authorities, alleged on Friday that Ba'asyir was involved in the
bombings.

But the police wasted time issuing a summons to question
Ba'asyir, the chairman of Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI).

The police had intended to take Ba'asyir from the hospital to
Jakarta for questioning and to ensure the suspect was kept in
police custody once he recovered.

But one of Ba'asyir's lawyers, Mohamad Assegaf, told The
Jakarta Post on Sunday that the questioning would be better held
in Surakarta, because "my client will feel at peace here near to
his family, relatives and pupils".

Ba'asyir, 64, who many allege has links to the hardline Jemaah
Islamiyah, was rushed to hospital on Friday after a one-hour
media meeting at his al-Mukmin Ngruki Islamic boarding school.
During the meeting he denied all accusations made against him,
including involvement in the terrorist blasts in Bali.

Earlier Friday, he was named a suspect following the
confession from al-Faruq over Ba'asyir's role in various bomb
attacks, including the blast at the Istiqlal Mosque in April 1999
and a plot to assassinate President Megawati Soekarnoputri before
she assumed power.

Ba'asyir was questioned earlier this year for clarification of
his activities while he was in self exile in Malaysia in the
early 1990s.

Ba'asyir and the late Abdullah Sungkar are alleged to have
established Jemaah Islamiyah, an organization the United States
has proposed for inclusion in the list of banned terrorist
groups.

Police said Ba'asyir was named a suspect without questioning
him because they had been collecting information on him for a
long time, including from al-Faruq, who is said to be a top al-
Qaeda representative in Southeast Asia.

The police charged Ba'asyir under articles in the Criminal
Code and Emergency Law No. 12/1951 on the illegal possession of
firearms and explosives. The charges carry a maximum penalty of
death.

Ba'asyir, who fled to Malaysia in 1983 to escape charges under
former ruler Soeharto's regime for rejecting Pancasila state
ideology, is also accused of having violated Law No. 9/1999 on
immigration for entering and leaving the country without official
documents.