Witnesses in M'sia, S'pore said to implicate terror suspect Abu Bakar
JAKARTA - Indonesian authorities said today they have ample evidence against terror suspect Abu Bakar Bashir, including witness statements from Singapore and Malaysia, despite his refusal to answer police questions.
"His refusal to answer questions will harm his own case. I think police have enough evidence to question him," Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra told reporters.
Singapore and Malaysia say the Muslim cleric is the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) regional terror network, a group suspected of involvement in the Oct 12 carbombing on Bali that killed nearly 200 people.
Indonesian police moved to arrest Bashir after Omar al-Faruq, an alleged al-Qaeda operative, implicated him in terrorist operations in Indonesia including a series of church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 and a plot to assassinate Megawati Sukarnoputri before she became president.
Abu Bakar (<i>photo</i>) has not been named as a suspect in the Bali blast.
Mahendra said police had al-Faruq's statement "and it will be read in court. Whether he (al-Faruq) will be summoned to be present in court will be decided later but not now."
Arrest 'unlawful'
Mahendra said police had other evidence against Abu Bakar provided by witnesses in Indonesia as well as authorities in Malaysia and Singapore.
"So Abu Bakar's questioning is not based only on one piece of evidence," he said.
Abu Bakar, 64, is in custody at the Jakarta police hospital after having been forcibly moved last week from another hospital in the central Java city of Solo, where he runs an Islamic boarding school.
Defence lawyers have filed a suit challenging the arrest as unlawful.
In a hearing today, national police lawyer Chief Commissioner Suyitno said there was enough evidence to prosecute Abu Bakar.
"The arrest of Abu Bakar was not only based on Omar al-Faruq's testimony but also based on sufficient preliminary evidence which includes police reports and other evidence," Suyitno told South Jakarta district court.
Some 100 Bashir supporters attended the hearing, yelling "Allahu Akbar (God is Great)" whenever defence lawyers presented their arguments.
Suyitno said the evidence included testimony from Malaysian national Faiz Abubakar Bafana to the Indonesian embassy in Singapore on Sept 4, as well as immigration documents turned over to police by the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Arrest 'unlawful'
He said police also have the statements of five people to the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 30 and 31 and police reports on the bombings of three churches on Batam island on Christmas Eve 2000.
Abu Bakar today refused to answer questions until conditions he imposed Saturday were met.
The cleric, a self-confessed admirer of Osama bin Laden who denies links to terrorism, demanded to confront al-Faruq.
He has also asked for his detention to be suspended and has demanded a police apology to Indonesian Muslim leaders and to the hospital in Central Java, which they damaged as they tried to bring him in.
"It is inappropriate for a person who has been named a suspect to set conditions for his questioning, such as asking to be confronted with al-Faruq. There is no regulation in our criminal code (for this)," Mahendra said.
Al-Faruq, arrested in Indonesia in June and handed over to US authorities, is believed held at the US base at Bagram in Afghanistan. AFP
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