Indonesian officials reacted with outrage after a man jailed for life for his key role in the deadly Bali bombing was treated to coffee in a Jakarta Starbucks by police, who say the outing was a "proper procedure".
Ali Imron, who has confessed his involvement in the October 2002 attacks which killed 202 people, was spotted relaxing in the cafe in an upmarket city centre shopping mall on Wednesday in the company of a senior police officer.
He was seen by reporters laughing and joking with Brigadier General Gorries Mere, an officer closely involved in investigating the Bali bombings which are blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemmah Islamiyah terror group.
Police defended the move as a legitimate part of investigations into the Bali attack. But the incident is likely to cause anger among relatives of victims already alarmed by a recent court ruling which could undermine some Bali convictions.
"As long as everything was done following the proper procedure and the security aspect was properly addressed, then we deem that there was nothing wrong with that," said national police spokesman Inspector General Paiman.
He told AFP that Mere had taken Imron out as part of his effort "to develop the investigation" but declined to elaborate.
Imron is the younger brother of two other key Bali bombers who are now on death row – Amrozi and Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas. He was among the few who expressed remorse for the bombing.
He has also cooperated extensively with police, providing details of the entire operation that led to the three separate blasts in Bali on October 12, 2002.
Paiman said Imron, who is serving his sentence at a Bali jail, had been officially "borrowed" by national police for investigative purposes. He added that although Imron was seen without handcuffs during his unorthodox public appearance, "there were enough security measures put in place."
Despite the assurances, legislators and lawyers expressed concern at the Starbucks excursion, saying it was an "insensitive" move which raised questions over police procedures.
"I was shocked by that news. I think it is highly inappropriate for the police to do what they did," said Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, a legislator from the ruling Golkar party and member of a parliamentary commission overseeing military and police matters.
Munarman, who heads the country's foremost rights group, the Indonesian Legal Aid foundation, said the incident was "extraordinarily strange". "Police can move a convict to the police headquarters for investigative purposes, but certainly not to a public place, especially without handcuffs," he said.
Johnson Panjaitan, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Association for Legal Aid and Human Rights, said that there was no law or regulation on what police can or cannot do when it borrows a convict or a suspect. "But, to be honest, what Mere did was at the least insensitive," Panjaitan said, expressing doubt over police motives for the outing.
Some lawyers have already said that Imron has received too many privileges in return for his cooperation with police. His lawyer Suyatno told AFP that the bomber was moved to Jakarta two months ago to process demands to let him be near his family.
Imron's coffee break comes amid fears that several convicted Bali bombers could have grounds for appeal following a court ruling last month which rejected the retroactive use of an anti-terror law to convict them.
Indonesia, which is currently preparing to try alleged Jemaah Islamiyah leader Abu Bakar Bashir, has said none of the key bombers will go free despite the ruling.