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