Indonesian police to quiz al Qaeda suspect
January 22, 2002 Posted: 4:59 AM EST (0959 GMT)

Armed Indonesian police officers stand guard at the gate of U.S. Embassy during a demonstration outside its compound in Jakarta 		 JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- Indonesian police have summoned for questioning militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, whom Singapore and Malaysia suspect has links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and with terrorist groups in the region. 
"He is being summoned for this Thursday," national police spokesman Saleh Saaf told Reuters. 

"We want to seek clarification over many things," he said, declining to elaborate. 

Indonesia has been under fire from some regional media and officials in neighbouring countries who say it has been slow to crack down on Islamic extremists with militant links. 

Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines have arrested scores of militants in recent months as part of their investigations into guerrilla networks in the region -- which they also say point to extremist cells in Indonesia. 

Critics say politicians fear a backlash if a harsh line is taken with militant Muslims, though most Indonesian Muslims are moderates. 
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country. 

Bashir's lawyer Suryanto Bakri said police might question his client over his suspected ties with al Qaeda, blamed by the United States for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. 

"Yes, that may be the case," Bakri said when asked whether Bashir had been summoned due to his perceived links with the al Qaeda, "But my client has said he had nothing to do with it." 

Bashir has also been linked to groups in Malaysia and Singapore alleged to have planned attacks against U.S. and other targets in the region. He has repeatedly denied encouraging such actions. 

Bashir heads Indonesia's Mujahidin Council, a small Islamic group, which aims to promote the implementation of Islamic Sharia law in the world's largest Muslim nation. 

Some 300 Muslims staged the first anti-U.S. protest this year outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta 		 Embassy protest
Some 300 people from another Muslim group, the militant Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), staged the first anti-U.S. protest this year outside the American embassy on Tuesday, but witnesses said it didn't appear linked to the Bashir inquiry. 

The demonstrators from the FPI, a group notorious for its vigilante attacks on nightspots and threats last year to drive Americans out of Indonesia, called the U.S. war on terrorism unjust and against human rights. 

It was the first significant anti-U.S. protest in the capital since November, when a series of demonstrations which began in October -- triggered by U.S. attacks on Afghanistan -- tapered off after initially drawing thousands. 
The FPI denies any links to al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden, as does Bashir's Mujahidin Council. 

On Monday Irfan Awwas, director of the council, dismissed accusations the 18-month-old group had established or received funds from al Qaeda. 

He also told Reuters the council did not know a man arrested last week in Manila over possible links with al Qaeda and whom Philippine police have described as Indonesian. 

Singapore suspects the man, known by various aliases including Sammy, was a key leader of Jemaah Islamiah, a Muslim group it says has been planning attacks in the region. 

"We do not have any connection at all with Islamic movements overseas. We do not know about Jemaah Islamiah," said Awwas. 

The daily Republika reported on Tuesday that the father of the arrested man said he had hardly seen or kept in touch with his son since 1985 when he graduated from a local Muslim boarding school in his home village in East Java near the town of Madiun. 

"I only found out that the (arrested) Indonesian man is my son after...police came to my house," M. Zainuri was quoted as saying. He dismissed the idea that his son was linked with any terrorist group.