ID :
22964
Mon, 10/06/2008 - 21:43
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/22964
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BA`ASYIR PROHIBITED FROM MEETING BALI I BOMBING CONVICTS
Cilacap, Indonesia, Oct 6 (ANTARA) - Muslim cleric and former leader of the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council (MMI) Abubakar Ba'asyir was prohibited from meeting Bali I bombing death row convicts Amrozi, Mukhlas, and Imam Samudra at the Batu correctional institute in Nusakambangan, Cilacap, on Monday.
Ba'syir and his entourage arrived at Cilacap's Wijayapura ferry port at 10.30 local time on Monday morning and asked permission from security officials to meet Amrozi et al.
But because Ba'asyir did not have a permit from the Central Java law and human rights office , his request to meet the Bali bombing convicts was rejected.
Although there was tension after the rejection, Ba'syir finally understood the procedure and asked permission to visit other prisoners convicted for terrorism held at at the Batu correctional institute in Nusakambangan.
"I can understand the law and human rights office procedure concerning visits to the death row convicts at the prison," Ba'asyir said.
After the security officials coordinated with the Batu prison warden, the cleric and his entourage were finally permitted to cross to Nusakambangan at 12:30 to visit other terror convicts at Batu prison.
Until his arrest a week after the 2002 Bali bombings, Ba'asyir was a teacher at an Islamic school in Solo, Central Java.
Ba'syir insisted he was just a simple preacher but according to many people, both in Indonesia and abroad, he was the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a shadowy group with links to al-Qaeda.
After his arrest, Ba'asyir was accused in connection with a number of bomb attacks blamed on JI - the Bali bombings, the JW Marriott hotel bombings in 2003 and a series of church attacks in 2000.
He was even accused of planning to assassinate former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
But prosecutors have struggled to make any of the charges stick.
First the courts acquitted Ba'asyir of being JI's spiritual leader, after judges said there was not enough proof.
Ba'syir and his entourage arrived at Cilacap's Wijayapura ferry port at 10.30 local time on Monday morning and asked permission from security officials to meet Amrozi et al.
But because Ba'asyir did not have a permit from the Central Java law and human rights office , his request to meet the Bali bombing convicts was rejected.
Although there was tension after the rejection, Ba'syir finally understood the procedure and asked permission to visit other prisoners convicted for terrorism held at at the Batu correctional institute in Nusakambangan.
"I can understand the law and human rights office procedure concerning visits to the death row convicts at the prison," Ba'asyir said.
After the security officials coordinated with the Batu prison warden, the cleric and his entourage were finally permitted to cross to Nusakambangan at 12:30 to visit other terror convicts at Batu prison.
Until his arrest a week after the 2002 Bali bombings, Ba'asyir was a teacher at an Islamic school in Solo, Central Java.
Ba'syir insisted he was just a simple preacher but according to many people, both in Indonesia and abroad, he was the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a shadowy group with links to al-Qaeda.
After his arrest, Ba'asyir was accused in connection with a number of bomb attacks blamed on JI - the Bali bombings, the JW Marriott hotel bombings in 2003 and a series of church attacks in 2000.
He was even accused of planning to assassinate former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
But prosecutors have struggled to make any of the charges stick.
First the courts acquitted Ba'asyir of being JI's spiritual leader, after judges said there was not enough proof.
