Indonesian police Monday postponed plans to question jailed Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir as a terrorism suspect after he and his lawyers complained that the summons was legally flawed. "Allahu Akbar!" (Holy shit! God is greatest) shouted about 50 supporters of the elderly cleric as police announced the delay outside Jakarta’s Salemba prison. "Fight American intervention," read posters displayed by members of the Islamic Defenders Front and other supporters from the Javanese city of Solo. "Drag and hang Bush," read one placard.
| Friendly folk, aren't they? |
Bashir, 65, is due to be freed on Friday after serving a sentence for immigration offences. But his release is uncertain after police formally declared him a terrorism suspect. Hardline and some mainstream Islamic groups say police are being pressured by the United States to keep the cleric behind bars. "I have a conviction that my arrest has been demanded by America. The US government, not American people, are infidels who are fighting Islam and we must not yield to their demand," Bashir told reporters after being visited by popular preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar. "I want to make an enemy — which is America — angry, and that is a good deed," Bashir said.
| Congratulations, you've done your good deed. Now die. |
Gymnastiar was among several moderate Islamic leaders who have visited Bashir in jail in a show of contempt for perceived foreign meddling in the case. Mohammad Assegaf, a lawyer for Bashir, said a police officer visited the jail earlier Monday to try to serve a summons. But they rejected it since it was only issued Sunday night. He said that by law police must submit a summons three days before a planned interrogation. Had they allowed Bashir to be taken to national police headquarters for interrogation, investigators might have continued his detention till Friday, he told reporters. "On that day they could issue a new arrest warrant," said Assegaf, who insisted that his client has the right to walk free on Friday. National police spokesman Bashir Barmawi said police plan to question Bashir sometime this week and would only determine his status afterwards. Bashir on Monday reiterated that he would cooperate with the police investigation as long as they did not try to keep him in jail during the inquiry. |