Wrongful arrest gives Rahmat neighbor trouble

Wrongful arrest gives Rahmat neighbor trouble

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

The front gate to the 36 sq m house on Jl. Merak 3 in Waru,
Sidoarjo municipality, East Java, is latched every day. Only a
bicycle is visible, parked behind a bamboo screen on the front
porch.

"This is how my rented house looks every day, nothing
special," Rahmatulloh, or Rahmat, told The Jakarta Post recently.

Rahmat's house is quite modest. Only a red carpet is spread
out in the sitting room, which has not a single chair. A small
table in a corner spills over with books, mostly on economics, a
subject in which he has a keen interest. He has lived here for
two years with his family.

"Aren't you afraid to come inside the house? You might be
arrested," he said jokingly.

Rahmat, 26, a cake seller and Muslim preacher who studied at
Bhayangkara University, is one of three people who were
questioned by the Sidoarjo and East Java police departments in
connection with the Sept. 9 bombing at the Australian Embassy in
Jakarta.

Besides Rahmat, his wife Farida and friend Agung Yulianto were
suspected of being connected to the East Java terrorist cell of
Malaysian bombing suspects Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohd.
Top.

East Java Police believed that Rahmat's house was used to hold
initiation rites for jihad militants, and moved to arrest him
upon tip-offs from locals.

Rahmat believed that Oki, Nanang and Hilmi had reported to
police that his house was often used as a gathering place for
Muslim hard-liners. The three were at his house when plainclothes
officers arrived, but they were not arrested.

"I'm sure they were the informants. We were introduced by
mutual friends," he said.

Oki, Nanang and Hilmi often came to the house to speak with
Rahmat. "We talked about many things, from politics to religion,"
Rahmat said, but did not expect the discussions would be relayed
to the police. "Maybe, after that, I was suspected as a member of
the terrorist group."

During the arrest, police claimed to have found information
and documents in Arabic discarded in a well. Rahmat was also
suspected of hiding other documents, including a list of names
and teachings connected to the Azahari-Top network.

"It's just a ruse. The Arabic documents were just notes
written by a fellow student during lectures at IAIN (State
Academy of Islamic Studies), not the names of terrorists," said
Rahmat, smiling.

The tall, slim and soft-spoken man was not perturbed by the
charges against him.

"If I was connected to the terrorists, I wouldn't be here. I
would have fled to somewhere," he said. He was certain the
charges were unsubstantiated. "After the interrogation, the
police couldn't prove my involvement with the terrorists or the
blast in Jakarta, so I was released," he said.

But the damage has already been done. His arrest has had
negative repercussions, one of which was to ruin his family's
reputation in the neighborhood.

"Many times, the neighbors will look at my house with disgust,
blaming me for the Kuningan blast," he said ruefully.

The police, who are currently busy looking for suspects
implicated in the Kuningan blast, should clear his name, he said.
"But, they have not apologized yet, and it's painful," he said.

"I feel sorry for my wife. I don't know how she would feel if
the neighbors stopped accepting her, and kept suspecting me of
being a terrorist," he said. Rahmat and Farida have a new baby.

He hoped that others who might be arrested in connection to
the Kuningan blast, would not suffer a similar persecution by
neighbors upon unfounded suspicions.