Security up after al-Farouq's escape

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that the government would increase security measures at home to prevent terrorists from launching new attacks in the country following the escape of Omar al-Farouq from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan.

"Because he was arrested in Indonesia, there will certainly be implications for Indonesia," Susilo was quoted by state news agency Antara as saying on Friday.

Al-Farouq, known as the lieutenant of Osama bin Laden and the leader of the Al Qaeda terror network in the Southeast Asia region, was arrested by the Indonesian authorities in June 2002 in Bogor, West Java, where he had adopted an alias and had two children with an Indonesian wife. He was later handed over to U.S. authorities.

At the time of the arrest, Susilo was the country's chief security minister.

Al-Farouq was one of four suspected Arab terrorists to escape from a heavily fortified detention facility inside a U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan, in July. Although the escape was widely reported at the time, al-Farouq was identified by an alias and the U.S. military only confirmed this week that he was among those who fled. The identity of the two other al-Qaeda leaders as well as a fourth man who escaped with them has not been revealed. It also remains unclear how the terrorists could escape from the maximum security facility.

Susilo said that the government had yet to receive official notification of the escape from the U.S. government.

"We are communicating through diplomatic channels (with the U.S.) but it has not yet been officially explained how he escaped and where he is now thought to be," he said.

He declined to provide details about the planned security measures.

"What is important is that Indonesia will make maximum efforts to act against terrorists and curb terrorism," he added.

Separately, al-Farouq's Indonesian wife said the U.S. government should have put her husband on trial.

"My husband was kidnapped by America but they never officially told us ... for more than three years," Mira Agustina said as quoted by AP. "I don't believe that my husband was a terrorist. He is an ordinary man who cried when he watched movies about violence."

"I just wanted America to put him on trial," Agustina told reporters at her modest home in the village of Cisalada, about 70 kilometers south of Jakarta. During the interview Agustina, 27, was clad in a black burka, with only her eyes visible.

Agustina said she married al-Farouq in 1999, when the latter was allegedly establishing a militant network in Indonesia.

"I was shocked when news broke that my husband was a terrorist wanting to kill many people," she said, adding that she told her two daughters that their father had gone off to America "to work."

Agustina said she believed her husband would never return to Indonesia.

"I do not believe anything they say about him," she said.