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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesian police questioning Abu Jibril |
| 2004-05-15 |
| Indonesian police on Friday were questioning a suspected senior member of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional extremist network deported earlier by Malaysia, a senior officer said. Mohamad Iqbal Abdul Rahman, also known as Abu Jibril or Fihirudin, was in Jakarta and "still being questioned" by Indonesian detectives, Brigadier General Pranowo, director of the police anti-terrorism branch, told AFP. He did not elaborate but said Abu Jibril’s questioning "has nothing to do with JI." Inspector General Paiman, the national police spokesman, said Jibril is being questioned in connection with the alleged falsification of documents and giving false testimony. "He’s being questioned now in connection with false evidence in the case of his passport," Paiman said. Indonesia’s chief of detectives, Commissioner General Suyitno Landung, separately told reporters "so far there isn’t a connection" between Jibril and bombing cases. Malaysia deported Jibril earlier Friday just hours before the High Court was due to hear an application for his release, a Malaysian government lawyer said. The Indonesian preacher was sent back by the immigration department, which had been holding him since he was freed from a detention camp last August, Deputy Public Prosecutor Fadzilah Begum told the court. Malaysian judges had last week ordered that Jibril be produced before them on Friday afternoon after his lawyers sought a habeas corpus ruling pressing for his release. Jibril, 46, who has a Malaysian wife, was arrested in June 2001 for alleged militant links. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |