Jakarta – Indonesia's decision to expel terrorism-expert Sidney Jones, the Southeast Asia director of the International Crisis Group (ICG), was welcomed Wednesday by followers of Muslim militant cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, now a terrorist suspect.

"We call on the government to ban Sidney Jones and also have her apologize to Abu Bakar Ba'asyir," said Fauzan Al Anshari, spokesman for the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), an organization set up by Ba'asyir several years ago.

Jones, 52, and ICG analyst Francesca Lawe-Davies, received an order from Indonesia's Immigration Department Monday night instructing them to leave the country "immediately", but allowing them a short grace period until Saturday to depart, Jones told a press conference.

Jones has written extensively on Ba'asyir, currently under investigation for links with the Indonesian-based Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group which is blamed for the Bali bombings on October 2002 that sparked a crackdown on Moslem militants in Indonesia.

"The anti-terrorism campaign in Indonesia has been influenced by the writings of Sidney Jones," said MMI spokesman Anshari. He called on the government to revoke the anti-terrorism law enacted in the aftermath of the Bali blasts, "because the law was enacted with input from Sidney Jones".

Jones and the ICG are still in the dark about which of their reports irked Indonesian authorities, leading to their expulsion. "We are still mystified by what has taken place," Jones told a press conference on Wednesday.

Jones has been in Jakarta since late 2001 as the Southeast Asia project director for the Brussels-based ICG, a think-tank that monitors crises in 20 countries worldwide and provides analyses and reports for policy-makers.