The deportation of an Indonesian terror suspect from Malaysia has been delayed while Jakarta checks the man's identity, an immigration official said today.

Mohamad Iqbal Abdul Rahman was to have been deported on Sunday but the move was cancelled. Official Malaysian sources said Indonesian authorities had revoked his passport at the last minute.

"There was no revocation. We were going to issue an emergency passport for Mohammad Iqbal but we found out in the meantime that he had another name," said immigration department spokesman Ade Endang Dachlan.

He said Iqbal was also known as Abu Jibril and there were some other inconsistencies in information given for the emergency passport.

"We just want to ascertain whether this is the real Mohamad Iqbal, whether he is who he claims he is," Dachlan said. He could not say when the checks would be completed and the emergency passport issued.

PR status revoked

Mohamad Iqbal is an Indonesian preacher with permanent resident status in Malaysia.

Iqbal, 46, was arrested in June 2001 under the Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial, for alleged militant links.

He was suspected of being a senior member of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network, which has staged a series of attacks in the region.

Iqbal was released in August but immigration officers revoked his permanent resident status and immediately arrested him pending deportation to Indonesia.

The alleged militant has appealed to the Malaysian High Court against a declaration that he is an undesirable person and a prohibited immigrant.

Indonesia has said it would question Mohamad Iqbal about his possible links to terrorism if he were sent home. - AFP