Investigators from the Indonesian Police headquarters on Wednesday began interrogating Muslim clericAbu Bakar Ba'asyir (64) for his role in the October 2002 Bali bombing at the Salemba prison here.

Ba'asyir, due for release Friday, is serving an 18-month jail term for immigration offenses. The terror charge came after policeclaimed it had found new evidences linking the cleric with a series of bomb attacks in the country.

"Ba'asyir did not respond during the questioning. He only replied questions concerning his personal details, such as his name," Fauzan Al-Anshari, a key member of the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council founded by Ba'asyir, was quoted as saying by Detikcom online news service.

An earlier attempt by the police to bring Ba'asyir to police headquarters was foiled by hundreds of the cleric's supporters from various Muslim groups, who still packed outside the prison Wednesday.

Fauzan said nearly all the questions were directed to Ba'asyir's role in the Bali bombing, which killed over 200 people, and his alleged leadership in the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

Meanwhile, Pranowo, one of the directors of the police anti-terror unit, said the questioning was running well as expected.

But he declined to reveal the new evidence which led police to proceed terror charge against Ba'asyir.

Source: Xinhua