Farouk Arnaz & Candra Malik, Indonesia – Police on Friday said firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was a step closer to facing trial with prosecutors now ready to prepare the indictment against him.
National Police spokesman Iskandar Hasan said the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office on Friday accepted the police dossier on Bashir. With the dossier in their hands, prosecutors can now begin to prepare the indictment. Bashir's dossier "was declared complete this afternoon around 3 p.m.," Hasan said.
Earlier in the day, the cleric, who has been in police custody for the past four months, suggested that the arrest of a suspected terrorist was an attempt by police to keep him in detention.
A spokesman for the Central Java Police, Sr. Comr. Djihartono, said Abu Tholut was arrested at his home in Kudus, Central Java, at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, and was found in possession of a pistol and several bags of ammunition.
Police sources earlier this year said the former head of regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah had acted as a bridge between Bashir and an armed paramilitary group in Aceh that was broken up by a series of police raids in February. Tholut is also suspected of recruiting militants and raising funds for terrorist activities.
"The police have been looking for him," Bashir told journalists in a written statement on Friday. "He was arrested just three days before my detention period was to expire, and police would have had no option but to release me. "This arrest was made because the police really want to put the blame on me. Tholut was always linked to me in regard to the Aceh training."
He added that he would not be surprised if Tholut was tortured by police to extract a confession linking him to the Aceh group. "I know the police are having trouble and are under pressure to complete my case and prosecute me," he said. "This is why they have to look for witnesses to corner me."
Bashir acknowledged Tholut had once been his subordinate at Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid, an organization he founded on what he claimed was "true" Islamic teachings, but said Tholut had left due to ideological differences. "He is no longer a member of JAT because he thinks differently. In JAT we forbid the use of weapons in our work, which he opposed," Bashir said.
Some of JAT's members have been arrested this year for suspected terrorist activities.
He said police had arrested several men for alleged involvement in the Aceh armed group for a slew of reasons. "The primary reason being that they want to trap and lock me up," he said. "From the very beginning, they have been fabricating a story that I am the mastermind behind the group training in Aceh."
Bashir's son, Abdurrachim, has separately claimed that police were seeking to link Tholut to his father, particularly after prosecutors returned the case dossier to investigators, saying that it was incomplete.
"Ever since my father was arrested on August 9, police have said they have strong evidence against him," Abdurrachim said. "Four months have passed; they seem to be at a loss and they don't know what to do in order to link him with the armed training camp in Aceh."
Meanwhile, the newly installed National Police spokesman for general affairs, Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar, said Bashir's detention would be extended by a further 60 days. Bashir was arrested in West Java on Aug. 9.
He is suspected of involvement with the Aceh group, illegal weapons possession, providing shelter for wanted terrorist suspects and concealing information about known terrorists, all violations of the Anti-Terrorism Law, which carries the death penalty.
Police have said Bashir met with Dulmatin, believed to be one of the masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, and Tholut in Solo to discuss the paramilitary group in Aceh. Police killed Dulmatin in a raid earlier this year.
In May, Bashir told the Jakarta Globe that Tholut had been teaching the science of war, or asykari, according to Islamic principles at his Al Mukmin boarding school in Solo until as late as October 2009.
But he also said they had agreed to pursue jihad via education and religious teachings. "We conduct jihad only if we are attacked," he said. "I am sure that Abu Tholut would never approve of the way jihad is carried out by those in Aceh."