INDONESIA: INDONESIAN POLICE HAVE ALLOWED DETAINED MUSLIM CLERIC ABU BAKAR BASHIR TO ATTEND EID AL FITR PRAYERS

Record ID: 645680

  • Title: INDONESIA: INDONESIAN POLICE HAVE ALLOWED DETAINED MUSLIM CLERIC ABU BAKAR BASHIR TO ATTEND EID AL FITR PRAYERS
  • Date: 4th December 2002
  • Summary: W2) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (DECEMBER 4, 2002) (REUTERS) SLV INDONESIAN POLICE HEADQUARTERS SV JOURNALISTS SV INDONESIAN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS DEPARTMENT CHIEF ERWIN MAPPASENG SPEAKING TO REPORTERS MCU (Bahasa Indonesia) ERWIN MAPPASENG SAYING: "We managed to arrest a few suspects, especially the suspect that we have been looking for all this while, by authorities in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. He is Mukhlas or his real name Ali Ghufron. Ali Ghufron's brother is Amrozi." SV REPORTERS LISTEN TO MAPPASENG SLV MEDIA
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, UNKNOWN LOCATION, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAS649EEDFRSKIPM95ICDZG5F0
  • Story Text: Indonesian police have allowed detained Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, said to be the spiritual leader of a regional terror group, to attend Eid Al Fitr prayers.
    They have also said they have arrested a man alleged to be the new operational leader of Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiah network, which has been blamed for attacks throughout the region.
    Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir celebrated the end of the holy Ramadan fasting month on Thursday (December 5) in Jakarta.
    The cleric belongs to the Muhammadiah group which celebrates Eid Al Fitr a day earlier than the rest of the Muslim world.
    Several hundred supporters, some with vests bearing the word "Mujahidin" prayed with Bashir under the watchful eyes of policemen at the police hospital in Jakarta.
    Bashir, suspected of involvement in a string of church bombings in 2000 and a plot to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri, is under police detention until end of the year.
    Bashir was arrested by police in a hospital in central Java on October 19, but his official detention period did not begin until November 2 as he was too ill for questioning.
    Police have said Bashir is a co-founder of the Jemaah Islamiah militant Muslim network. Jemaah Islamiah has been linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
    Police have not tied Bashir to last month's devastating Bali blasts. They have said that although Amrozi, the only arrested suspect in that case, has said he was a student of the cleric, links connecting the charismatic preacher to the attack have not been proven.
    Erwin Mappaseng, chief of the criminal investigation department of the Indonesian police, said on Wednesday (December 4) that Ali Gufron, whose alias is Mukhlas was arrested in Klaten on Tuesday at around 11 p.m. (1600 GMT). A pistol and 12 bullets were confiscated at the same time.
    Last week police had said reports from various sources indicated Mukhlas had replaced another Indonesian, Hambali, as operations leader of Jemaah Islamiah.
    Some Indonesian and many foreign officials have blamed last month's Bali bombings on the militant Muslim group, although Indonesian police have yet to directly make the link.
    Mappaseng said Bali blast investigators picked up seven more people with Mukhlas, including his wife, and another man in a neighbouring city, but did not elaborate on whether they are suspects in the October 12 bombings in Bali which killed at least 191 people.
    The only link police have made between Mukhlas and the bombings is that he is the elder brother of Amrozi, the first arrested suspect, who has said he considers Mukhlas a hero.
    Up until this week, police have arrested 15 Indonesian men in connection with the bombings -- the worst since last year's September 11 attacks on New York and Washington -- but it is unclear how many of them are directly implicated.
    The alleged ringleader of the bombing, Imam Samudra, is now being held at the national police headquarters in Jakarta and is due to be moved to Bali sometime this week for further enquiries.
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