Police to question Bashir about bombings
Police in Indonesia today said it could be days before they can question an ailing Muslim cleric over a string of deadly church bombings and his alleged links to a regional terrorist network.
Detectives had hoped to interrogate Abu Bakar Bashir, who is now in a police hospital in Jakarta, as early as today about allegations that he is the spiritual leader of the extremist network known as Jemaah Islamiyah.
The group is believed to be responsible for the October 12 nightclub bombings in Bali that killed nearly 200 people, including around 30 Britons. It was added last week to a UN list of groups linked to the al-Qaida network.
Security forces also said they are searching for the group’s fugitive commander Riduan Isamuddin, known as Hambali, who is believed to be hiding in a third country, possibly the Philippines.
Police doctors examined Bashir today at the hospital in East Jakarta. They said the 64-year old cleric’s heart condition made it impossible for him to be questioned immediately.
“Based on his condition, doctors concluded that he needs two to four days of treatment and rest,” police Brigadier General Basir Ahmad Barmawi said. “Whether he would be transferred to the police headquarters or not depends on the state of his health.”
Jemaah Islamiyah is thought to operate cells across the region and has been tied to several plots and attacks over the last two years, including a foiled plan to bomb the US, British, Australian and Israeli embassies in Singapore.
Intelligence agencies say Hambali built the organisation in al-Qaida’s image.
According to a US-Australian report prepared for the UN on the group, Hambali was a close associate of Ramzi Yousef, now imprisoned in the US for his involvement in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York. They reportedly collaborated in an unsuccessful plot two years later to blow up 12 airliners flying from Asia to the US.
In contrast, Bashir has operated openly in Indonesia since returning from exile in the late 1990s. He heads the legal Indonesia Mujahideen Council, a small educational and religious organisation.
Bashir was detained by police yesterday and transferred from his hometown of Solo to Jakarta. The move came a day after President Megawati Sukarnoputri met with US President George W Bush at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Mexico.
At that meeting, Megawati reaffirmed her commitment to fight terrorism but appealed for additional assistance from Washington for counterterrorism training and equipment.
Today, the scene at the police hospital was calm, with a crowd of reporters and officers lingering outside. There was no sign of the protesters who had clashed with police in Solo, 250 miles east of Jakarta, when officers forcibly removed Bashir from the hospital there.
After being taken to hospital two weeks ago for treatment of a respiratory ailment, Bashir was arrested on October 18. He is charged with ordering a string of church bombings in 2000 that killed 19 people and plotting the assassination of Megawati.
Bashir denies any links to terrorists, saying he is being made a scapegoat and has blamed his arrest on US diplomatic pressure. He also denies that Jemaah Islamiyah even exists.
Bashir’s arrest followed the questioning of Omar al-Faruq, an al-Qaida operative taken into custody by Indonesia and turned over to the US in June. Al-Faruq allegedly implicated Bashir in the church bombings and the assassination plot.
In Bali, Megawati visited the site of the bomb blast for a second time and met with police over the ongoing investigation. Investigators said they plan to release three composite sketches of possible suspects later this week.
