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| Southeast Asia |
| Bashir in Custody |
| 2002-10-28 |
| Police in Solo, Central Java clashed with angry supporters of the alleged terror leader Abu Bakar Basyir while he was being removed from his hospital bed, news agencies reported Monday. Hundreds of supporters of Basyir, an elderly I'm snowed. I didn't think they'd actually take him in. I thought the Indons would back down because they're scared of his thugs... According to the latest reports, Basyir is already in Jakarta where he is jailed in maximum security in order to prevent any âmishap and unnecessary grouping of crowds if he was to be in a hospital again,â IslamOnline was told. Wonder if the Indons thought of that, or the Aussies and Americans? Basyir, who has been hospitalized for the last two weeks with That made the best picture for the propagandists... Observers say the Basyir case is being treated with caution by the entourage of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who want a full report on the situation in Solo and in Jakarta after the arrest of Basyir. That's another way of saying they're scared spitless... His arrest, linked to the âconfessions of a Kuwaiti citizen who bought fake Indonesian Identification papers,â a member of the Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI) told IslamOnline in an online chat on Monday, is bound to create troubles for the Megawati regime. Umar Al-Faruq, the Kuwaiti citizen arrested in June in the city of Bandung, confessed in Washington to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that he knew Basyir and that the latter was the leader of the âterroristsâ in South East Asia. The Reformed United Development Party (PPP Reformasi) has joined calls for a probe into the extradition of terror suspect Omar Al-Faruq to the U.S. and demanded that he be returned to Indonesia, the Jakarta Post wrote on Monday. They want him returned to Indonesia so he can be assassinated. "Whoops! The witness is dead! Too bad. I'd like my acquittal now, please..." This is the third political party that has now called for the return of the extradited Kuwaiti, whom several observers and politicians in Jakarta say is a CIA agent who infiltrated the country to seek information on Basyir and other Mujahideen groups in Indonesia. âFind out who was responsible for the âescapeâ of Al-Faruq to the United States,â deputy secretary-general of the party Miqdad Husein said on Sunday, October 27, putting more pressure on Megawati to reveal how Al-Faruq was sent to the U.S. and why. This is called "attacking the messenger," in case you hadn't noticed. Since there's not a gram of subtlty here, you probably did... He also urged the government to bring Al-Faruq back to Indonesia "What's wrong with that? They were just infidels..." During the meeting with the clerics, police asked them to control Basyirâs supporters so the inquiry team could do their job. Worked well, didn't it? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 The Indonesian governmet has awakened (albeit reluctantly). The Bali attack made them lose a lot of face. Face (for the gov't and military) is far more important than numbers dead. I suspect they'll handle it. |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2002-10-28 17:17:59 |