Indon ‘terrorist’ asks high court to reopen case

"What Jemaah Islamiyah?"

An Indonesian convicted in July for trying to smuggle explosives at Ninoy Aquino International Airport has denied any links to Indonesia-based Islamic militants or any terrorist group as alleged by Philippine officials.

"I don’t even know what Jemaah Islamiyah is," Agus Dwikarna, 35, told The STAR in an interview. "I am not the leader of the group. I am not a member of the group."

He also denied that his political party, the Party Amanat National of which he is the secretary, had any links with terrorists.

"It is a legal organization recognized by the Indonesian government," he said. "We are not an opposition party. We are just a political party."

Dwikarna is being detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City, serving a 17-year prison sentence for illegal possession of explosives handed down by a Pasay City court.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said Dwikarna is a ranking member of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesia-based ally of al-Qaeda that operates across Southeast Asia.

Perez and National Security Adviser Roilo Golez earlier opposed a proposal by Presidential Adviser for Special Concerns Norberto Gonzales that Dwikarna be handed over to Jakarta to improve bilateral relations.

Perez earlier said there had been pressure from some Indonesian officials for Dwikarna’s release but the Philippines refused because it had evidence against him.

"It has come out that Agus Dwikarna is one of the highest officers of Jemaah Islamiyah," he said in an earlier interview.

Perez said some Cabinet members – who he did not identify – had suggested that Dwikarna be handed over to Jakarta to improve Philippine relations with Indonesia.

"I told them, ‘Why are we worried about good relations if this is the man who is planning to bomb us,’" Perez said in an earlier interview.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople recently went to Jakarta to meet with his counterpart, Hassan Wirayuda, to discuss the possibility of a prisoner swap.

Dwikarna, along with two other Indonesians, Abdul Jamal Balfas and Hamsid Lin Rung, were arrested on March 13 at the airport when plastic explosives were found in their luggage.

The three denied they were terrorists and claimed their arrest by Philippine authorities was politically motivated and was requested by Jakarta.

Balfas and Lin Rung were released in April upon orders from President Arroyo after Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri intervened on their behalf. Charges against them were dropped.

Dwikarna, however, remained in detention in Camp Crame pending further investigation of his alleged links to foreign terrorists.

Intelligence officials alleged that Dwikarna, Balfas and Lin Rung met associates of another Indonesian, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in April for illegal possession of explosives. Al-Ghozi pleaded guilty to the charge.

Authorities said al-Ghozi was an explosives expert for Jemaah Islamiyah.

They said he was behind a series of bombings in Metro Manila in December 2000 that claimed more than a dozen lives, a charge denied by al-Ghozi.

Justice Undersecretary Jose Calida bared that they received information from foreign intelligence officials that Dwikarna is also a member of Majlis Mujahidin Indonesian, a group allied with Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda.

Aside from being implicated in the 2000 Rizal Day bombings, Dwikarna is also suspect in the bombing of the Jakarta residence of Philippine ambassador Leonides Caday in August 2000.

The information came from a suspected Jemaah Islamiyah member, arrested by Singapore police December last year on suspicion that he and his 12 other arrested cohorts were planning to bomb US targets in the island state.