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| Southeast Asia |
| Sydney Jones banned from visiting Indonesia |
| 2005-11-25 |
| A leading American expert on Indonesia's terrorist groups has been expelled from the country for a second time, officials said Friday. No explanation was immediately given. Sidney Jones, the project director for the International Crisis Group in Jakarta, said she was refused entry to the country Thursday on return from a trip to Taiwan. "I received no explanation and no warning that it was going to happen," she said Friday from Singapore. Jones' Brussel-based think tank opened an office in Indonesia in 2000 and has released detailed and well-researched reports on the activities of the al Qaeda linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. The regional terror network has been blamed for at least four deadly bombings in Indonesia, including last month's triple suicide attacks on the resort island of Bali that killed 20 people. Jones was also expelled from Indonesia in 2004 under the administration of President Megawati Sukarnoputri for allegedly publishing false reports damaging to the country's image. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government allowed her to return in July. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said he was told by immigration officials that Jones had been barred from the country, but was given no reason. Jones said when she arrived in Jakarta after attending a Time magazine awards ceremony honoring her think tank she was told that an Oct. 7 letter banned her from entry. "I don't understand," she said, adding that she has been in and out of the country several times in the last six weeks. "If there was a problem, you would have thought they would have called me in or raised the question while I was in Jakarta, giving me some ability to respond," Jones said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 I'm in a wait and see mode. The country’s politics make Byzantine intrigue look tame. My guess would be that Yudhoyono will straighten it out in a week or two -- unless they’ve got info that she’s being targeted for assassination by islamofascists and they don’t have a way to protect her. |
| Posted by: cingold 2005-11-25 18:52 |
| #2 "I received no explanation and no warning that it was going to happen," she said Friday from Singapore. Jones' Brussel-based think tank opened an office in Indonesia in 2000 and has released detailed and well-researched reports on the activities of the al Qaeda linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. she doesn't read her own press, apparently |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-11-25 17:50 |
| #1 Gee, any questions regards the Indos left? Any more 6 pg long apologies lurking around? Has the ring of Q.E.D. |
| Posted by: Elmaitch Jinese1474 2005-11-25 16:31 |