JAKARTA, October 21 (IslamOnline) - Indonesian police confirmed that Abu Bakar Basyir, the arrested Indonesian Islamic leader and chairman of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) is not linked to the Bali blast that killed almost 200 people on Saturday, October 12, news agencies said Monday, October 21.

Basyir, linked to the al-Qaeda in a leaked Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report published by the Time magazine and accused of a series of terrorist attacks in South East Asia, could also be freed soon after interrogation, other sources said.

Quoting from the New York Times, the news agency said Indonesian officials have indicated that he is not a suspect in the bombing of two nightclubs in Bali a week ago the Abs-Cbnnews agency said in Manila.

The cleric, Abu Bakar Basyir, 64, was arrested as he lay in a hospital bed in his home city, Solo, apparently suffering from exhaustion after a vibrant Khutbah (religious speech on Fridays) in which he asked the crowd to pray for the safety of Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire.

The arrest of Basyir, long urged by the United States, “does not mean he will be put in jail,” Gen. Aryanto Sutadi, director of the police department’s criminal division, said at a news conference after visiting the cleric in the hospital the NY times wrote.

U.S. officials have said that they believe that his alleged network, Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI), was involved in the attack and that they expected the police to question him about it. Basyir denies even the existence of the JI and urged the Indonesian authorities to come with concrete proof of his involvement in terrorist activities.

When contacted, officials at the Al-Mukmin school told IslamOnline that “not a single soul in this establishment believes Basyir is involved in murder, crime and terror activities.

“However he is missed by the staff and the students who has great respect for him,” the official said.

He said there was intense pressure in Jakarta for the release of Basyir in the absence of proof of his involvement in the year 2000 church bombings, of which the aging leader is accused.

His lawyers said earlier that he would not show up for questioning because he was sick while Basyir refused to be qualified a “prisoner” by the police.

The MMI, which is an umbrella organization of Islamic groups, also said Basyir should not be arrested since he is frail and weak and could flee Indonesia to any other destinations.

In Jakarta, House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung maintained that the arrest of Basyir, should be based on solid proof rather than on pressure from a third party, namely the United States.

"In addition, the humanitarian aspects and the principle of presumption of innocence should always be upheld," he told journalists at the legislative assembly building as quoted by Antara.

Sources close to the MMI said to IslamOnline the authorities do not have a single proof of the involvement of Basyir in any terrorist activities. They were confident Basyir would be released as soon as the interrogations are over.

On the other hand, experts in Indonesia were divided on the efficiency of the anti-terror decree recently signed by President Megawati Sukarnoputri to combat terrorism in Indonesia.

The Jakarta Post said Monday human rights activist Hendardi and legal expert Rudi Satrio said the regulations would be ineffective in fighting terrorism as it would be easily used to arbitrarily arrest people and political enemies, as during the tenure of former president Suharto.

Experts warned that as long as the country's intelligence remained weak and the corrupt and politically-influenced judiciary remained in place, the regulations could be easily misused by those in power to arrest people or political enemies.

Editors, observers and analysts said last week that the Bali blast occurred due to a weak intelligence service in Indonesia. They blamed the Indonesian authorities for not reforming the Intelligentsia fast enough to counter such threats wisely.

"The problem of the failure to detect and to disclose terrorism networks lays with the poor performance of intelligence and police, not on the lack of a legal basis," one expert said to the Jakarta Post.

Opposition groups during the tenure of former president Suharto were repressed by a range of measures, including terror, abduction and jailing.