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Imam
Bashir’s lawyers will soon press for the release of their client
who had nothing to do with the accusations laid by police against
him
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By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, November 29 (IslamOnline) - The Bali bombing mastermind, Imam
Samudra, said his group was the only one involved in the church
bombing in Riau Islands in 2000 and that Abu-Bakar Bashir, the eminent
Islamic scholar arrested by police had nothing to do with the
bombings, Mahendradatta a lawyer said.
“Imam
Samudra has already told the police that his group was the only one
involved in the church bombings in Batam, Riau and that no other
groups were involved in this act,” Mahendradatta said, reported news
agencies in Jakarta Friday November 29, 2002.
Mahendradatta,
one of the lawyers of Bashir, also said Hambali and Bashir’s groups
were not involved in these bombings that took place on the eve of
Christmas in 2000, Kompas newspaper said.
Bashir
and Hambali are high on the list of terror suspects of the U.S.,
Singapore and Malaysia. Hambali, also known as Issamuddin, is on the
run and is said to be living in Indonesia.
Bashir,
an old man with ill health, is currently in police custody for his
alleged involvement in the church bombings in 2000. The Muslim scholar
has repeatedly denied involvement in any terror activities in
Indonesia and in the region.
Mahendradatta
also told the press in Indonesia that it appears the police are trying
all it could to link Bashir to Samudra and Hambali in a bid to prove
the guilt of the Islamic leader and chairman of the Mujahideen Council
of Indonesia (MMI).
Samudra
earlier this week said he was involved in the bombing of churches in
east Java in the year 2000, adding that he did not know who carried
out the bombings in Batam, an Island off Singapore.
Mahendradatta’s
statement means that Samudra has claimed full responsibility for the
2000 bombing, which makes it difficult for the Indonesian police to
link Bashir to any terrorist activities in the country – what they
have been bent on since they arrested the Muslim leader.
Mahendradatta
has indeed said he feels the police are also now working on linking
Bashir to a murder plot against President Megawati Sukarnoputri well
before she took office.
The
lawyer said Samudra, also known as Abdul-Aziz, refused to sign a
statement typed by the police in which was written that Samudra had
linked Hambali to the church bombings. Samudra refused to sign the
document saying that he did not say such things.
“Samudra
strongly rejected that any other groups were involved in the bombing
adding that he was the one who gave the orders and planned the
operation,” Mahendradatta said.
According
to other sources, Imam Bashir’s lawyers will soon press for the
release of their client whom they said had nothing to do with the
accusations laid by police against him.
The
team of lawyers said the statement by Imam Samudra will be used by in
the defense of Bashir, adding that the case is over since Samudra
denied Bashir’s involvement in the bombing.
One
of the reasons police arrested Bashir was the opinion that the Islamic
leader allegedly met the masterminds of the church and Bali bombings
in Malaysia several times between the year 2000 and 2002.
But
his lawyers say Bashir never left Indonesia since he returned after
the “reformasi” or reform movement toppled General Suharto from
power in 1998.
Mahendradatta
also said the alleged meeting between Bashir and Samudra in Malaysia
was the statement of Amrozi, the 40 year old suspect of the Bali
bombing arrested earlier in Indonesia.
“The
accusations now lay on the statement of Amrozi, who is the only person
to have alleged this. Yet it is not clear if Amrozi was effectively
present in these meetings,” said the lawyer.
