JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia's police chief officially declared militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir a criminal suspect on Friday, allowing authorities to keep him in jail when his current period of detention ends later [t]his month.
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Bachtiar did not say whether police would demand Bashir's continued detention. But his ambiguity was likely due to the political sensitivity of the case, which many people here believe is an example of foreign meddling in Indonesia's internal affairs.
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Under Indonesia's anti-terror law, declaring someone a suspect means that authorities can apply to a magistrate for permission to keep him in prison for six months during an investigation. Earlier this week, Indonesian police said they may declare Bashir a suspect in the Bali bombings - the deadliest terror attack since Sept. 11, 2001. Bashir has predicted that authorities would hold him indefinitely for further questioning. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist -- the Indonesians just need to "do it by the book," with the evidence necessary to permanently dispose of the guy.