[Nasional-e] Omar al-Faruq handed to US by RI, no request to bring him back

[Ambon]

The Jakarta Post
26 Oct. 2002

Omar al-Faruq handed to US by RI, no request to bring him back

JAKARTA (JP): The United States questioned Omar al-Faruq after being offered
to do so by Indonesia, a US senior diplomat said here on Thursday.

The US diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonimity, said the US and
Indonesia had previously agreed to cooperate with each other in dealing with
terrorism.

"It was in the spirit of that cooperation, that Indonesia gave the US a
chance to question Omar," he was quoted by Antara as saying without
elaborating.

Omar was arrested in Indonesia on June 5 and subsequently handed over to the
US which has had him in detention, believed to be at Bagram air base in
Afghanistan, ever since.

Based on his reported confessions to US investigators about some of his
activities in Indonesia, including a plot to assassinate President Megawati
Soeakrnoputri, the Indonesian government later deemed it necessary to
question Omar in US detention but first had to ask for permission from the
US to do so.

In his statements to an Indonesian team of investigators, Omar implicated
Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir in terrorist activities in
Indonesia. As a consequence, police put Ba'asyir under arrest soon after the
Indonesian team of investigators had returned from the US.

On the possibility of bringing Omar back to Indonesia to confront Ba'asyir,
the US diplomat said Indonesia had yet to make a request to that effect.

Omar confirmed that Ba'asyir, a charismatic religious leader based in Solo,
Central Java, was involved in the al-Qaeda network, known to be widely
responsible in dozens of global terrorist acts.

Ba'asyir and many other Muslims here are demanding that he and Omar be
brought together in order to clear up all the accusations against him
(Ba'asyir).

The US diplomat said "It's up to the Indonesian government to request that
Omar be brought back to Indonesia."

About whether such an Indonesian request would be successful, the US
diplomat said he would rather not comment on it. "I don't want to
speculate," he said.


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