0
JAKARTA, Oct 19: Indonesian authorities on Saturday arrested a religious leader accused of leading a terror group, hours after assuming sweeping new anti-terrorist powers in the wake of the Bali blast.
The government, under international fire for months for its perceived soft approach to terror, toughened its stance after the bombing that killed at least 186 people.
Abu Bakar Bashir was arrested in hospital in Solo city after failing to come to police headquarters in Jakarta to be quizzed as a suspect in a bombing spree almost two years ago.
His lawyers said he was too ill to attend after collapsing on Friday.
Bashir is the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian extremist group suspected of links to the Al Qaeda.
Indonesian authorities have not accused him of involvement in the Bali blast. However, foreign leaders have voiced suspicion last Saturday’s bombing was planned by the Al Qaeda, possibly in conjunction with Jemaah Islamiyah.
Bashir has repeatedly denied being involved in terrorism.
The emergency anti-terrorism decree announced early Saturday, and made retroactive to cover the Bali bombing, authorizes the death penalty for some terror acts and allows suspects to be held for up to six months without trial.
“This regulation may reduce some rights but all of this is intended to protect the greater rights of human beings,” said Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra in response to fears it could usher in a new era of Suharto-style repression.
Indonesian police say they summoned Bashir after Omar al-Faruq, an alleged Al Qaeda operative detained by US authorities, implicated him in a bomb plot during questioning by Indonesian investigators.
Al-Faruq was arrested in Indonesia in June and handed over to US authorities. Indonesian police said he has confirmed a Time magazine report that he knew and was helped by Bashir.
Time, citing a Central Intelligence Agency report, said Bashir had authorized al-Faruq to use Jemaah Islamiyah operatives and resources to blow up US embassies in Southeast Asia.
“As of now he (Bashir) is formally arrested but he will remain in hospital until he is healthy enough,” police Brigadier General Aryanto Sutadi said.
“After that we will detain him. He is now under police control.”
One of Bashir’s lawyers, Mahendradatta, said he was apparently a suspect in a spate of Christmas Eve, 2000, church bombings that killed 18 people.
“We are convinced that (Bashir) doesn’t know and has not made any contact with Umar al-Faruq,” Mahendradatta said, urging the media “not to get involved in efforts to spin a web of lies to make someone face a firing squad.”
HEIGHTENED ALERT: Embassies, which have already urged their nationals to leave the country if possible, went on heightened alert.
Australia warned of possible reprisal attacks in the event of the arrest of Bashir or other suspected extremists.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia had received specific threats of bombings targeting Westerners in some Jakarta suburbs.
And the US State Department warned Americans to avoid travelling to Indonesia or consider leaving immediately if they were already there.
Defence Minister Matori Abdul Jalil, visiting the blast scene in Bali’s Kuta resort town, was asked if he still believed Al Qaeda was to blame.
“Yes. I think it’s a very professional attack,” he told reporters.
“I think that some group of international terrorism in cooperation and coordination with an inner group of terrorists here in Indonesia is involved in this.”
Jalil dismissed fears of a radical backlash against Bashir’s arrest.
“Let’s not worry about backlash or revenge from the radical groups because they are only a minority group,” he said.
“The public should be able to separate the issue of Islam and terrorism. Terror is terror, Islam is Islam.”
Australian police said they would take witness statements from 600 of their nationals as part of the massive multinational investigation.
Officers from Britain, Germany, Japan and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation are also investigating along with local police. But a week after the blast there was no word on suspects.
Indonesian police said they have questioned 67 Indonesians and foreigners but no one has been designated as a suspect.—AFP
