RI govt

RI govt
to verify
status
of al-Gozhi

JAKARTA: The government will try to verify the citizenship of
a man arrested in Manila over his alleged links with the al-Qaeda
network, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on
Monday.

Hassan said the government will not speculate about the status
of Fathur Rohman al-Gozhi, a member of the Jamaah Islamiyah
Muslim organization -- who was recently arrested by the police in
a rented house in the Philippines capital -- until his
nationality is determined.

"According to a report in a Singapore media, this man has
resided in Singapore for quite a while and is married to a
Malaysian... Is this man still an Indonesian national?" he asked,
after accompanying a UN human rights official to meet President
Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"The Indonesian embassy in Manila is still trying to clarify
the man's status," he added.

Reports said that al-Ghozi was arrested by the police on Jan.
15, after receiving a tip-off from Singapore that the man is a
key leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic terror group
operating in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Philippine police also said they believed al-Ghozi had links
to al-Qaeda.

After his arrest, the police seized a cache of explosives and
weapons in the Southern Philippines.

Al-Ghozi is also suspected of providing funding and bomb
components for the bombings of Manila in December 2000 that
claimed more than a dozen lives.

On the allegations, Hassan said, "We shouldn't connect
everything with the al-Qaeda," -- JP