He's in the hospital now, hopefully on his way to the morgue.
Posted on 10/19/2002 3:41:17 AM PDT by knighthawk
KUALA LUMPUR, October 18 (IslamOnline) - Abu Bakar Basyir, the Muslim cleric high on the list of suspects of the USA Singapore and Malaysia for terrorism activities, is ready to surrender to Indonesian police after being named as a suspect in a series of deadly church bombings across Indonesia in 2000, news reports said on Friday, October 18.
Considered the spiritual leader of the Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) based in Singapore, he is also linked to the Bali bombing, another unconfirmed report said.
A report on Wednesday in several Indonesian newspapers revealed that the U.S. was prepared to name Basyir as a major terror suspect, higher on the list of international suspects.
Indonesia has come under enormous international pressure in recent days to arrest Bashir and take steps against the JI. The United States and other countries have called on Indonesian authorities to arrest Bashir.
Basyir challenged the Indonesian and U.S. government to provide proof of his involvement in the year 2000 church bombings and asked the local authorities on whose side they were, Antara said in an earlier report.
The bombings, in Jakarta and nine other cities and towns, killed 19 people and injured dozens.
On Thursday, President Megawati Sukarnoputri won critical parliamentary support for an emergency anti-terror decree which calls for death penalty for terrorists, indicating that Megawati has won one battle in the ‘war against terror.”
In an earlier report, a close friend of Basyir informed IslamOnline by phone that the Islamic fundamentalist leader was high on the list of Muslim leaders targeted for arrest by the Indonesian government after the Bali blast.
The leader of the Islamic Defender Front (FPI), Habib Rizieq and the former leader of the disbanded Jihad Force Chief, Jafar Umar Thalib are the other Islamic leaders said to face imminent arrest in Indonesia.
Rizieq was arrested on Thursday on charges that he committed acts of vandalism and agitating people. Chances are Thalib would not be arrested. He is still battling charges of his involvement in the Maluku racial riots between Muslims and Christians and currently out on bail.
The Jakarta Police spokesperson High Commissioner Anton Bachrul Alam said Rizieq was proven to have incited his people to damage places of entertainment in Jakarta recently.
The FPI has been urged to follow the example of the Jihad Force which liquided itself on Wednesday, with its members going back to their own professions.
Thalib said the Jihad Force was disbanded because too many of its members gave interviews to lady journalists in the recent past, causing a certain hilarity in press rooms in Jakarta, IslamOnline was told.
Abu Bakar Bashir, who runs the Al-Mukmin school in central Java will be summoned to appear for questioning this Saturday, Tempo magazine reported on Friday.
The JI is suspected of involvement in bombings over the weekend on the resort island of Bali that left at least 188 dead and hundreds injured. However Basyir has consistantly rejected allegations that he was a member of the JI or of the Malaysian Militant Movemet (KMM).
A report in Tempo indicated that Basyir was named a suspect after investigators returned from questioning Omar Al-Faruq, an alleged al-Qaeda operative arrested in Indonesia in June and handed over to the U.S.
Al-Faruq, according to Tempo has confirmed a leaked CIA report published by Time magazine last September that he was Al Qaeda’s senior representative for Southeast Asia, planned the assassination on Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, masterminded the bombing on Indonesian churches during Christmas 2000 and also on Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta.
There are fears in Indonesia that Basyir’s eventual arrest might cause a backlash by local Islamic elements.
However, sources close to Basyir told IslamOnline that Islamic elements in Indonesia will allow the police to follow its course since they believe there is no proof of Basyir involvement in any acts of terror.
“Basyir is guilty of having met Osama Bin Laden in the early 1980’s at the height of the war against Russian invasion of Afghanistan, whether he was given funding or arms by the Saudi millionaire is another question,” the Basyir camp told IslamOnline on Friday.
“One has to look at the lifestyle of Basyir, the school he runs. He leads a normal and very simple life and is not a rich man. He spent most of his life in exile in Malaysia,” Basyir’s friend, who refused to have his name published, said on the phone to IslamOnline.
He added that there will be more arrests of Islamic figures in Indonesia in the coming, predicting a collapse of the Megawati regime in the process.
“The government is not stable anymore, anti-Muslim elements who control local businesses are putting enormous pressure on Megawati to take severe steps against Muslim elements.
“The government is split in two factions, the cabinet too is split in many factions. This regime has a matter of weeks before it collapses,” Basyir’s friend told IslamOnline.
He also said that Basyir could be sent to the U.S. as he is high on the U.S. list of suspected international terrorists, a list that has created great anger in Indonesia in the past few days.
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The equivalent of giving an interview to a dog, I suppose, for these people. Islam Online's audience would, I'm sure, understand the "hilarity."
He's in the hospital now, hopefully on his way to the morgue.
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