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Police Say Request to Visit Hambali Is Decision for US
Farouk Arnaz | January 19, 2010

Kankan, the younger brother of Hambali, showing a recent picture of the terror suspect from the Guantanamo Jail. (JG Photo/Farouk Arnaz) Kankan, the younger brother of Hambali, showing a recent picture of the terror suspect from the Guantanamo Jail. (JG Photo/Farouk Arnaz)
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Valkyrie
5:51pm Jan 19, 2010

It's a totally different ball park Peter, and yes, it's played by the rules especially for terrorists.


peterR
5:24pm Jan 19, 2010

Don't think they are going to find that the same relaxed attitude exists in the US as here over prison visits for families of terrorists.

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The National Police have no objections to the request of Riduan “Hambali” Isamuddin’s family to meet with the Al Qaeda terror suspect who may stand trial in the United States, Chief Detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said on Tuesday

“If they ask for our help we will coordinate with the Foreign Ministry and we will pass their request on to the US Embassy here. It is up to them [whether] to issue the visa or not,” he said.

The family members have not seen their son and brother in more than 10 years, although they have exchanged letters.

Ito said an official met with Hambali in Guantanamo Bay last year. “We also already provided all information they [investigators] might need about Hambali’s activities here,” he said.

“So far there has been no indication that they need anything further from us,” he said.

Hambali is suspected of organizing the 2000 Christmas Eve attacks, 2002 Bali bombs and the 2003 bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.

On Monday, one of Hambali’s younger brothers, Kankan Abdul Qadir, 31, told the Jakarta Globe the family wanted the Indonesian government to help them to travel to Washington to see Hambali and to assist them in getting US approval to meet with him.

However, his family said they could not believe that Hambali, born Encep Nurjaman in April 1966, could be executed in the United States for terrorist attacks carried out here — and they still hope that he can be brought home to stand trial.

Although Hambali has not seen his family since he briefly visited his Malaysian bride around 1998, they say they have kept in touch with him during his detention at Guantanamo Bay through letters sent via the International Committee of the Red Cross, which informed them last year that Hambali might be tried in the United States.

The first contact came in 2006, when ICRC representatives visited Hambali’s family in Cianjur to update them about the health of the terror suspect, who stands accused of organizing the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

Since then, “countless” letters have come from Hambali, who was taken to Guantanamo some time after his arrest in Thailand in 2003.

Hambali was allegedly Osama Bin Laden’s lieutenant in Southeast Asia and was believed to be the main link between Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, the regional terrorist network blamed for the first Bali bombings.

The West Java native’s journey to international terrorist began after he travelled to Malaysia in 1984 as a migrant worker.

Kankan said the family knew nothing of his movements after that, including his trip to Afghanistan, where he was trained at a camp run by bin Laden.

Hambali’s visit home in the late 90s was followed by the Christmas Eve bombings of several churches in 2000.