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Indonesian police extend Ba'asyir detention
The police extended the detention period for Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for another 40 days, officials said on Wednesday. Police spokesman Comr. Prasetyo told The Jakarta Post that they had decided to detain the cleric for further questioning. The police said previously that they would send Bashir's dossiers to prosecutors before Nov. 21, as police could only detain a suspect for a maximum 20 days according to the Criminal Code Procedure. However, the police apparently failed to materialize their plan, and instead have decided to seek a 40-day extension of the detention period. The extension "is allowed by law," said Prasetyo. Indonesia's POTO allows them to keep him indefinitely... M. Mahendradatta, the cleric's lawyer, said that the request for extension was within the legal authority of the police. "We'd never fuss about it. We know that the police have the authority to detain a suspect for a maximum 60 days," he said. "We're biding our time and hope they don't notice they can keep him forever under the new law..." Bashir is currently being treated at a hospital in East Jakarta Maybe that'll give them some incentive to gather some real evidence on their own... Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-11-20 |
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