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The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights is considering transferring a convicted terrorist believed to have communicated with suspected terrorists in Aceh to a prison where there is no cellphone signal.

Ministry spokesman Gonjang Rahardjo on Sunday said a team of officers from the ministry’s directorate general of penitentiaries and inspectorate would summon convicted terrorist Iwan Dharmawan, also known as Rois Abu Syaukat, for allegedly communicating with members of an armed terrorist group in Aceh that police have been hunting down for more than a month.

“The team will summon Rois today if there are no problems. Whatever the result is will determine whether it is necessary to transfer Rois to Nusakambangan Prison or not,” Gonjang said, referring to the correctional facility located on a small island near Cilacap, Central Java, an area not covered by any GSM network.

A local newspaper reported last week that eight active cellphones were found in Rois’s prison cell.

Rois and Ahmad Hasan, who ar e at Cipinang Prison in East Jakarta, were sentenced to death by the South Jakarta District Court after they were found guilty of setting off a car bomb outside the Australian Embassy compound in Jakarta in September 2004.

The bombing killed 11 people.

Police alleged that Rois maintained contact with Saptono, alias Pak Tuo, who was believed to be one of the leaders of the armed group in Aceh. However, police were not sure if Hasan was also communicating with Saptono.

Saptono, who is still at large, has a long history with Rois. He was one of the instructors in a training camp put up by Rois in Gunung Peti, Cisolok, Pelabuhan Ratu village, West Java, in 2004. Police recently gunned down Saptono’s elder brother, Jaja, alias Slamet, alias Pura Sudarma, alias Mamang.

In the book “What is Jihad?”, released last year, Rois said the jihad’s objective was to kill those who did not believe in Islam.

He also said he would die a martyr.

“Jihad is a war against nonbelievers. It truly depends on Shariah [Islamic law]. Jihad is not merely [conducting missionary work] or building madrasahs [Islamic schools],” Rois said.

In the 224-page book, published by Jakarta-based group Pustaka Shotulhaq, Rois cited the teachings of the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad as justifying his actions.

Rois wrote that legitimate targets of jihad, in addition to nonbelievers, included Muslims who abandoned their faith, hypocrites, those who disobeyed Islamic law and despotic governments. Rois’s jihad also advocated killing other people for money.

The Jakarta Globe learned that the antiterror detachment would summon Rois and Hasan in the near future. “But we will first focus on conducting raids and the subsequent investigations in Aceh,” a source said on condition of anonymity.