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Two militants on death row for the September 2004 car bombing at the Australian Embassy compound in Jakarta were transferred to a maximum security prison on Thursday after police discovered a plot to attack Cipinang Penitentiary and free the terrorists, an intelligence expert said.

The transfer was also made amid concerns that the inmates, Iwan Darmawan Muntho, alias Rois, and Achmad Hasan, were able to communicate with fellow militants in Aceh using cellphones from inside their cells in the state penitentiary in East Jakarta. They have been transferred to the prison island of Nusakambangan in Central Java.

“Police have uncovered a plot by a group of militants who were recently caught holding paramilitary training activities in Aceh. Their objective was to free Rois and Hasan by force,” Dynno Cresbon, a renowned intelligence analyst, told the Jakarta Globe.

“A series of operations that started in Aceh in February revealed key information that included contact between Rois and the group regarding the plot. So Thursday’s transfer was not carried out hastily. Police have been preparing for it for weeks,” Dynno said, adding that he obtained the information from a source at the police antiterror unit Densus 88.

If the plot had materialized, the planned attack could trigger the use of a new terror method, with prisons targeted instead of hotels or tourist venues, Dynno added.

A senior official with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights did not confirm nor deny the plot.

“The transfer is for security reasons,” said Untung Soegiono, director general of correctional facilities at the ministry.

“It is for the security of the inmates, the security of Cipinang Penitentiary and national security as a whole,” he told the Globe by phone.

In March, Justice Minister Patrialis Akbar ordered an internal investigation over reports that Iwan was in possession of a cellphone, which he had been using to communicate with suspected militants in Aceh.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Office said the prison transfer was not related to any immediate plan to execute the terror convicts.

“As far as I know, they are still waiting for the Supreme Court’s verdict regarding their appeal [for a stay of execution]. The execution cannot be carried out until they have exhausted all legal avenues,” said AGO spokesman Didiek Darmanto, adding that prosecutors had not been notified about the prisoners’ transfer.

If the Supreme Court rejects their appeal, Iwan’s and Hasan’s lawyers could request a judicial review at the same court, which would require new evidence. They could also petition the president for clemency, which would require them to admit guilt.

According to a report released last month by International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based global security watchdog, there was concern over lax security procedures on terror convicts in the country.

The ICG urged the government to “take immediate measures to enforce existing regulations in prisons, especially with respect to those convicted of terrorism, including banning the use of mobile phones and otherwise restricting prisoners’ ability to have unmonitored conversations; screening printed material; and ensuring that religious study groups inside prisons do not become vehicles for the radicalization of other prisoners.”

 

Additional reporting by Candra Malik in Central Java