(2 Oct 2004)
APTN - No access Indonesia, Al Arabiya/MBC
1. SOUNDBITE: (Bahasa Indonesian) Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesian president:
"There is no political reason or any other reason to hold these people hostage. On behalf of the country, the Indonesian government and myself I strongly urge the kidnappers to release the hostages immediately and reunite them with their families."
APTN
2. Wide exterior of home belonging to Mohammad Assegaf, Abu Bakar Bashir's lawyer
3. Wide of Assegaf speaking
4. Close up of hand
5. SOUNDBITE: (Bahasa Indonesian) Mohammad Assegaf, Abu Bakar Bashir's lawyer:
"It is America and their allies who do not want to see Abu Bakar Bashir released. Abu Bakar Bashir knew that America, through its homeland security minister Tom Ridge, told Megawati that they are worried if Abu Bakar Bashir is released. So in many ways, including possibly conspiring to create this latest allegation, they want to discredit Abu Bakar Bashir on the eve of his upcoming trial."
6. SOUNDBITE: (Bahasa Indonesian) Abu Bakar Bashir, Cleric (voice under still photograph):
"If this claim is true and the hostage takers are Muslims, I am sure they do not understand Islam. I would like to give them advice to release the two hostages immediately because it is unlawful to take a fellow Muslim hostage."
STORYLINE:
Outgoing Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Saturday urged a militant group that claimed to have kidnapped two Indonesian women in Iraq to release them and allow them to return to their families.
Megawati said there was no political reason to kidnap the women, who went to Iraq to work and provide for their families in Indonesia and said she was hopeful her appeal would be accepted ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
Arab television station Al-Jazeera reported on Saturday that the militant group that claimed to have kidnapped the women demanded Jakarta free a Muslim cleric accused of leading a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida.
The authenticity of this report could not immediately be verified.
Al-Jazeera said it had received a written statement from a group calling itself The Islamic Army in Iraq demanding the release of Abu Bakar Bashir, who has been in jail since 2002 when he was convicted on minor immigration charges.
Indonesia's foreign ministry said it would not comment until the report was confirmed.
If true, the demand to free Bashir will dramatically add to the pressure on Indonesia's secular government as it prepares to bring fresh charges against him of heading Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terror network.
Bashir was cleared of separate terrorism-related charges last year by a Jakarta court but was sentenced to 18 months in jail for immigration violations. He was rearrested in April after serving his jail sentence and has remained behind bars since then.
Bashir has always denied any links to Jemaah Islamiyah.
Mohammad Assegaf, Bashir's lawyer said on Saturday, that the Indonesian cleric accused of heading an al-Qaida-linked terror group does not want to be freed in exchange for the release of two Indonesian women being held in Iraq, as their captors have reportedly demanded.
Bashir urged the group holding the Indonesians to release them, "I would like to give them advice to release the two hostages immediately because it is unlawful to take a fellow Muslim hostage."
It is unclear when the two Indonesian women, Rosidah binti Anan and Rafikan binti Aming were seized. Al-Jazeera broadcast video of the pair with two Lebanese and six Iraqi hostages on Thursday.
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