Samudra not linked to Ba'asyir or Mukhlas: Lawyers
Samudra not linked to Ba'asyir or Mukhlas: Lawyers
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After being barred from sitting in on the questioning sessions,
lawyers representing principle Bali bombing suspect Imam Samudra
signed the interrogation reports of their client on Saturday, in
which Samudra did not mention the suspected leaders of Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI).
In the reports, according to the lawyers, Samudra did not
mention other masterminds for the Bali bombing, other than
himself. He also admitted to having carried out other bombings in
other parts of Indonesia.
Lawyer Qadar Faisal said that Samudra did not link himself in
the Bali case with bombing suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, believed
to be the spiritual leader of JI.
"In the case reports there is no link between my client and
Ba'asyir. The content is basically the same with what the police
said," Qadar said as quoted by detik.com news portal.
Ba'asyir is currently in detention at police headquarters in
Jakarta for his alleged role in the Christmas bombings in 2000
and a reported assassination attempt of then Vice President
Megawati Soekarnoputi.
Muklas, who is said to be a JI operational commander by the
Indonesian police as well as the older brother of another suspect
of the bombing, Amrozi, was also not mentioned in the reports.
The lawyer also noted that in the reports, Samudra's motive to
conduct the deadly bombing was to take revenge for the Muslim's
sufferings around the world.
The team of lawyers agreed to sign the interrogation reports
after the police allowed them to accompany Samudra during the
questioning on Saturday.
They had been barred from accompanying Samudra in the past few
days.
Qadar further explained that so far the team of lawyers had
signed six investigation reports, consisting of two for Samudra,
and the rest belonging to Samudra's accomplices: Abdul Rauf,
Andri Oktavia, Andi Hidayat and Junaedi.
The lawyers signed the reports just one day after an
unidentified man shot at the Kijang van carrying three members of
the Muslim Lawyers' Team (TPM), when they were heading to the
police headquarters on Friday.
The three members of TPM in the car at the time, Made Rahman
Marasabessy, Achmad Michdan and Qadar said the front window of
the car was shot.
The Kijang was passing through Kuningan, South Jakarta at 6
a.m. when an unidentified person fired a shot at the right front
window of the car, shattering the glass window.
"I am sure it was a gunshot but the bullet did not pass
through the window," Rahman said, adding that they did not report
the incident to the police.
"We consider the shooting as one of the risks of our job and
we repaired the car soon after it happened," he remarked.