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The
unfounded Time report has ruined the good reputation of Abubakar
Ba’asyir
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JAKARTA,
October 1 (IslamOnline & New Agencies) – Indonesian Muslim
leader Abubakar Ba'asyir arrived at police headquarters Tuesday
morning, October 1, to file a libel complaint against Time magazine
over an unfounded report linking him to alleged terror plots.
Ba'asyir
is chairman of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council, an organization
advocating Islamic law in Indonesia.
"The
report has ruined the good reputation of Mr. Abubakar Ba'asyir,"
one of his lawyers, Mahendradatta, said, quoted by Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
In
its September 23 issue, Time claimed that an alleged Al-Qaeda senior
operative, Omar al-Faruq, admitted he planned to kill Indonesian
President Megawati Sukarnoputri in May 1999 when she was running for
the presidency.
According
to a CIA report referred to by the magazine, Ba'asyir had allegedly
offered assistance to Faruq (who Ba'asyir has denied knowing) for
carrying out a recent plan to bomb U.S. embassies in Jakarta and
elsewhere in the region.
"It's
all lies," AFP quoted Ba'asyir as saying as he arrived Tuesday
morning at the detective division of national police headquarters.
Mahendradatta
said Ba'asyir would file a libel complaint against Time.
Another
lawyer, Ahmad Michdan, said the complaint would cite all Indonesian
and foreign-bed reporters named as contributors to the article.
Michdan
said the complaint has been filed on behalf of Ba'asyir as an
individual rather than in his capacity as head of the Mujahidin
Council.
A
massive anti-U.S. rally held Wednesday, September 25 in Indonesia's
Central Java city of Solo protested latest U.S. allegations that
Al-Qaeda network was active in Indonesia and allegations of
involvement with international terrorist networks against veteran
leader Ba'asyir.
More
than 5,000 Indonesian Muslims at the rally gave their "ultimate
support" for Ba'asyir, whose name had been "smeared" by
the Time magazine report, said Ahmad Sobri Lubis, secretary general of
the Front for the Defenders of Islam (FPI).
Lubis
said all accusations against Ba'asyir "must be proven by
Indonesian law."
The
U.S. ambassador to Jakarta, Ralph Boyce, said the Time report was not
an official government document, but he repeated claims of Al-Qaeda
being allegedly active in Indonesia.
Ba'asyir
and FPI chairman Habib Rizieq Shihab were not invited for a dialogue
between Boyce and representatives of several Islamic organizations
held at the headquarters of the country's second largest Muslim group,
the Muhammadiyah, in Jakarta Tuesday, September 24.
Boyce
said at the meeting that Washington has not labeled any Indonesian
Muslim groups, including Ba'asyir's Indonesian Mujahidin Council ,as
international terrorist organizations, according to AFP.
In
an interview with the private SCTV television station from Solo,
Ba'asyir said he saw Boyce's statement as "an improvement".
But he warned Indonesian Muslims to remain cautious of Washington's
stance on Islam.
"We
still have to be careful because no matter what [Boyce has said]
America has made Islam its enemy," he said, adding Washington
should be fair in solving the Middle East crisis.
Earlier,
Shihab said the protest would also push for Jakarta to be "more
active in protecting its citizens in the face of pressure from
overseas, including from the United States, who want to turn them into
scapegoats."
