Lawyers for Jemaah Islamiyah’s alleged spiritual leader Abu Bakar Baasyir on Monday filed court papers for his release, saying there was insufficient evidence to justify his arrest last month. A ruling on the matter is expected by Wednesday. Baasyir has denied any links to terrorism and claims Jemaah Islamiyah does not exist. He is refusing to answer police questions about his alleged involvement in a series of church bombings that killed 18 people on Christmas Eve 2002, as well as an alleged plot to assassinate Megawati Sukarnoputri before she became president. The radical cleric says he will only cooperate with investigators if they meet three demands: release him; apologize for having arrested him; and summon al Qaeda operative Omar al-Faruq, who is being detained in the US and has implicated him in a number of terrorist plots.
Those are pretty new heights of arrogance, even for an Islamist cleric. Sure would be terrible if a drone happened to be flying overhead and malfunctioned somehow... |