JAKARTA (JP): A tight security cordon was in force around the detention center at National Police headquarters in South Jakarta on Saturday following the overnight arrest of the commander of the Laskar Jihad Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamma'ah Muslim group, Ja'far Umar Thalib, reports said.
Around 200 police officers from the police's elite Mobile Brigade and Sabhara Unit were stationed around the compound to avoid possible disturbances, SCTV television reported.
"This is just in case the group's followers push for Ja'far's release in an unlawful or violent way," one of the officers said.
Ja'far was arrested on charges of inciting hatred against a religion, and causing the death of one of his followers.
National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro said on Friday that police detectives had picked Ja'far up at Juanda Airport in Surabaya, and immediately took him to National Police headquarters for questioning.
Bimantoro said that one of the two charges laid against him was for allegedly handing down an Islamic law sentence known as rajam (stoning to death) against one of his followers, reportedly over adultery.
"We have been observing his activities since 1999," the general said.
Ja'far leads a paramilitary group, known as the Jihad Force, which have been conducted military-style training since 1999 and has sent its volunteers to the disputed Malukus provinces.
Over two years of bloody conflict between Muslims and Christians in the Malukus have claimed no less than 8,000 lives and forced 230,000 others to flee their homes.
The group has pledged to defend Muslims in the Malukus to the death, and their presence during the rehabilitation process in both Maluku and North Maluku provinces has been widely criticized.
The group's spokesman Ayip Syarifudin said on Saturday that they will file a legal complaint over the arrest. (edt)