Jakarta may ask access to militant when Rice visits

Jakarta, Mar 10: The Indonesian Government may ask for direct access to Hambali, a militant held by the United States since 2003, when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Jakarta next week, an official today (Mar 10, 2006)said.

Indonesia has long sought custody of Hambali, an Indonesian national believed to have played a key role in bombings of nightclubs in Bali in 2002 which killed 202 people, to aid in several prosecutions of terrorism suspects.

The Islamic preacher was caught in a US-led raid in Thailand in mid-2003, and since then Indonesian investigators have only received filtered information from him as Washington has so far barred direct contact.

''Second-hand information is not enough and this has gone on for too long,'' foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin told reporters at a news conference when asked whether Indonesian officials who meet Rice would repeat demands for more access.

''In dealing with terrorism, cooperation is needed. It is just proper for us to request access to Hambali. Indeed, this issue could be raised,'' the spokesman said.

Indonesian and US authorities believe Hambali was Osama bin Laden's main link to Southeast Asia and an operational commander of the militant Islamic group Jemaah Islamiah, seen as a regional arm of al Qaeda.

Jemaah Islamiah is also thought to have been behind a car bombing at a luxury hotel in Jakarta in 2003 and a similar attack outside the Australian embassy the following year.

Washington has repeatedly said it hoped to be able to hand Hambali over to Indonesia but has not said when.

Last month, U.S. officials said Hambali was part of a botched plan that sought to crash an airplane into the tallest building in Los Angeles. The plot was set in motion in late 2001 but arrests of involved parties in 2002 and 2003 thwarted it, according to intelligence sources.

Rice will start her official agenda in Indonesia on Tuesday and it will include meetings with various Indonesian officials including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and possibly a visit to an Islamic school, Thamrin said.

Rice had planned to visit Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, in January but dropped the plan to monitor West Asia situation when the health of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon deteriorated.

Despite differences over West Asia policy and sporadic large anti-American demonstrations in Indonesia, Jakarta and Washington have good relations in most areas, and Indonesia is considered a close ally in US anti-terrorism efforts.

Indonesia has brought cases against around 200 terrorism suspects in recent years in open proceedings, in contrast to neighbours like Singapore and Malaysia that often use tough internal security laws to hold suspects indefinitely without trial.

REUTERS