The longer suspected bombing mastermind Hambali stays under wraps in US custody, the more Washington risks irritating allies and losing an opportunity to convince doubters about the reality of terrorist networks.
Southeast Asian governments have welcomed the capture earlier this month of the alleged senior al-Qaeda operative and boss of the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiah, but where US authorities took Hambali and what they intend doing with him remains a secret.
Security officials say Hambali, a Muslim preacher also known by his alias Riduan Isamuddin, helped plot the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US as well as attacks throughout Southeast Asia.
US President George W. Bush called Hambali "one of the world's most lethal terrorists" and said the capture early this month meant he was "no longer a problem."
But that is not particularly helpful to countries such as Indonesia, where not everyone is convinced Hambali and Jemaah Islamiah were responsible for the Bali bombings last October which killed 202 people or that they had a part in this month's Jakarta hotel bombing that killed 12.
Many in Indonesia still don't even believe Jemaah Islamiah exist in the world's most populous Muslim country, according to International Crisis Group Indonesia Project Director Sidney Jones.
"Unless a figure like Hambali can be brought to trial in Indonesia in a way that the Indonesian public can see and hear and learn about the nature of his links to al-Qaeda, they're still going to believe that no such linkage exists," she said.
Similar sentiments came from Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of the 30-million-strong moderate Indonesian Muslim group Muhammadiyah. Asked whether a public trial of Hambali was important, he said: "Of course that's very very important, very decisive."
Hambali, a native Indonesian, has to be returned or else gradually the public could "lose their confidence, their trust in US good intentions," Maarif said.
However, one Western diplomat who declined to be identified said considering the trials Indonesia has already held or is holding over the Bali bombings and other attacks: "I don't think one more public trial would necessarily affect public opinion that much, at least in the short term."
Indonesian officials have said they want access to Hambali for questioning and eventually would like him brought back for trial. Some officials say Washington is being cooperative but they offer no specifics on when either goal might be achieved.
But it isn't just Indonesia with claims on Hambali. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines could make legal cases against him as well, if what intelligence officials say about his role as a mastermind of violence is true.
The Philippines has also asked for access to Hambali, a suspect in a December 2000 light rail transit bombing which killed 22 people.
A security official in Kuala Lumpur said Malaysia would like some access to Hambali to help Jemaah Islamiah investigations.
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
RSS