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Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Basyir
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JAKARTA,
October 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Indonesian police
Saturday, October 19, arrested (alleged) terror suspect Abu Bakar
Basyir, while in hospital, according to a senior officer.
Basyir
was formally arrested in the city of Solo, director of criminal
investigations Brigadier General Aryanto Sutadi told Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
"As
of now he is formally arrested but he will remain in hospital until he
is healthy enough," Sutadi said from the Central Java city.
"After
that we will detain him. He is now under police control."
Sutadi
said Basyir was being guarded by police in hospital.
"At
the moment we are still unable to question because he is too weak so I
don't want to push him to answer questions," he said.
Basyir,
an Indonesian Muslim cleric, failed to answer summons to national
police headquarters in Jakarta earlier Saturday.
He,
however, was ready to surrender to Indonesian police after being named
as a suspect in a series of deadly church bombings across Indonesia in
2000, according to his aides.
Aides
to the 64-year-old Basyir said he collapsed Friday, October 18, and
was taken to hospital, one day before he was ordered to answer the
summons for questioning as a suspect in bombings and in a treason
case.
Singapore
and Malaysia both accuse Basyir of terror links.
Singapore
says he is the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast
Asian group (allegedly) suspected to be linked to Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaeda network.
There
are fears in Indonesia that Basyir’s eventual arrest might cause a
backlash by local Islamic elements.
However,
sources close to Basyir told IslamOnline that Islamic elements in
Indonesia will allow the police to follow its course since they
believe there is no proof of Basyir's involvement in any acts of
terror.
“Basyir
is guilty of having met Osama Bin Laden in the early 1980’s at the
height of the war against Russian invasion of Afghanistan, whether he
was given funding or arms by the Saudi millionaire is another
question,” the Basyir camp told IslamOnline Friday.
“One
has to look at the lifestyle of Basyir, the school he runs. He leads a
normal and very simple life and is not a rich man. He spent most of
his life in exile in Malaysia,” Basyir’s friend, who refused to
have his name published, said on the phone to IslamOnline.
He
added that there will be more arrests of Islamic figures in Indonesia
in the coming period, predicting a collapse of the Megawati regime in
the process.
“The
government is not stable anymore, anti-Muslim elements who control
local businesses are putting enormous pressure on Megawati to take
severe steps against Muslim elements.
“The
government is split in two factions, the cabinet too is split in many
factions. This regime has a matter of weeks before it collapses,”
Basyir’s friend told IslamOnline.
He
also said that Basyir could be sent to the U.S. as he is high on the
U.S. list of suspected international terrorists, a list that has
created great anger in Indonesia in the past few days.
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