Terrorist suspect withdraws confessions
<p>Terrorist suspect withdraws confessions</p><p>Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali</p><p> The trial of Ali Gufron, alias Muklas, took a dramatic turn on
Monday, when the defendant revoked all his previous confessions
made to police investigators, claiming that he had been subjected
to severe mental and physical torture during his interrogation.</p><p>"The torture was very brutal, uncivilized and inhumanly
savage," Muklas screamed angrily before stunned judges.</p><p>Muklas alleged that through torture, police officers had
forced him to confess that Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a hardline Muslim
cleric currently being tried in Jakarta on charges of treason,
was the person who ordered, financed and gave his blessings to
the Bali bombings.</p><p>He also said that police investigators had also forced him to
say that Ba'asyir had asked him to plan an assassination attempt
against President Megawati Soekarnoputri when she was vice
president.</p><p>"All that information is false. Therefore, I retract all the
information in my BAP (police interrogation file)," Muklas said.</p><p>Reading out his four-page defense, richly illustrated with
spiritual quotations from the Koran, Muklas said that the torture
started right after his arrest on Dec. 3, during the initial
interrogation sessions in Central Java.</p><p>He said the darkest hours took place after he had spent about
a month under custody of the Bali police. One night at around
9:00 p.m., Muklas claimed, a group of about 10 plainclothes
officers took him out of his detention cell and took him to an
unknown venue. There, they stripped him naked, made him lay down
on the floor and repeatedly stomped on his body.</p><p>Raising his clenched fist high in the air, Muklas, apparently
unable to control his emotion, recalled that moment in a
horrified voice.</p><p>"In the name of Allah, I would rather be shot in the head
several times than being stripped naked. As a Muslim who knows
what dignity is and follows aurat, it was the most humiliating
torture for me," he said in disgust.</p><p>Aurat is an Islamic law that decrees that certain parts of the
body must be kept covered and hidden from the view of people
outside of one's immediate family.</p><p>"During my entire life, only my wife and children have seen my
bare thighs," he added.</p><p>He also alleged that the officers took pictures of his
genitals. They ended the ordeal by taking Muklas into the
bathroom and pouring near-boiling water over his head.</p><p>Muklas claimed that the physical pain of the torture lasted
almost three weeks. To prevent his brothers Amrozi and Ali Imron
from undergoing a similar ordeal, Muklas told them to follow the
investigators' scenario.</p><p>"That's why their BAP might also contain false information,"
he said.</p><p>Amrozi and Alim Imron are also suspects in the deadly Bali
bombing that killed over 200 people and injured some 350 others.</p><p>The police have arrested over 30 people as suspects in the
terrorist attack, believed to be the biggest after the terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in
September 2001.</p><p>Although he claimed that he remembered the names and faces of
the torturers, Muklas refused to identify them. However, he
stressed that none of the Bali police investigators, whom he
praised as friendly and professional, were involved in the
torture.</p><p>The trial is to resume on Wednesday.</p><p>Earlier in the morning, the presiding judges in Imam Samudra's
trial examined eight witnesses, including Muslim leader Haji Agus
Bambang Prayitno.</p><p>Separately, the trials of 12 other defendants known as the
Solo Group and the Serang Group were held at five different
locations in the Denpasar Public Court compound.</p>
Monday, when the defendant revoked all his previous confessions
made to police investigators, claiming that he had been subjected
to severe mental and physical torture during his interrogation.</p><p>"The torture was very brutal, uncivilized and inhumanly
savage," Muklas screamed angrily before stunned judges.</p><p>Muklas alleged that through torture, police officers had
forced him to confess that Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a hardline Muslim
cleric currently being tried in Jakarta on charges of treason,
was the person who ordered, financed and gave his blessings to
the Bali bombings.</p><p>He also said that police investigators had also forced him to
say that Ba'asyir had asked him to plan an assassination attempt
against President Megawati Soekarnoputri when she was vice
president.</p><p>"All that information is false. Therefore, I retract all the
information in my BAP (police interrogation file)," Muklas said.</p><p>Reading out his four-page defense, richly illustrated with
spiritual quotations from the Koran, Muklas said that the torture
started right after his arrest on Dec. 3, during the initial
interrogation sessions in Central Java.</p><p>He said the darkest hours took place after he had spent about
a month under custody of the Bali police. One night at around
9:00 p.m., Muklas claimed, a group of about 10 plainclothes
officers took him out of his detention cell and took him to an
unknown venue. There, they stripped him naked, made him lay down
on the floor and repeatedly stomped on his body.</p><p>Raising his clenched fist high in the air, Muklas, apparently
unable to control his emotion, recalled that moment in a
horrified voice.</p><p>"In the name of Allah, I would rather be shot in the head
several times than being stripped naked. As a Muslim who knows
what dignity is and follows aurat, it was the most humiliating
torture for me," he said in disgust.</p><p>Aurat is an Islamic law that decrees that certain parts of the
body must be kept covered and hidden from the view of people
outside of one's immediate family.</p><p>"During my entire life, only my wife and children have seen my
bare thighs," he added.</p><p>He also alleged that the officers took pictures of his
genitals. They ended the ordeal by taking Muklas into the
bathroom and pouring near-boiling water over his head.</p><p>Muklas claimed that the physical pain of the torture lasted
almost three weeks. To prevent his brothers Amrozi and Ali Imron
from undergoing a similar ordeal, Muklas told them to follow the
investigators' scenario.</p><p>"That's why their BAP might also contain false information,"
he said.</p><p>Amrozi and Alim Imron are also suspects in the deadly Bali
bombing that killed over 200 people and injured some 350 others.</p><p>The police have arrested over 30 people as suspects in the
terrorist attack, believed to be the biggest after the terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in
September 2001.</p><p>Although he claimed that he remembered the names and faces of
the torturers, Muklas refused to identify them. However, he
stressed that none of the Bali police investigators, whom he
praised as friendly and professional, were involved in the
torture.</p><p>The trial is to resume on Wednesday.</p><p>Earlier in the morning, the presiding judges in Imam Samudra's
trial examined eight witnesses, including Muslim leader Haji Agus
Bambang Prayitno.</p><p>Separately, the trials of 12 other defendants known as the
Solo Group and the Serang Group were held at five different
locations in the Denpasar Public Court compound.</p>