Refusing to be labeled a terrorist, Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir refused to sign his investigation dossier after being arrested by an antiterror squad at his home in Ciamis, West Java, the Jakarta Post reported.
Indonesian police arrested Bashir yesterday accusing him of funding and training Al-Qaeda linked extremists who were plotting a wave of attacks in Jakarta.
The ABC reported Indonesian police say their own headquarters as well as foreign embassies and international hotels were targeted.
Two senior Indonesian counter-terrorism officials have confirmed the Australian embassy was on the list.
“Bashir rejects the arrest,” Bashir's attorney Mahendratta said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
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Bashir had no knowledge of accusations that he supported a paramilitary camp in Aceh, Mahendratta said, adding that it was not clear which terrorist activities Bashir was allegedly involved in.
Furthermore, the terrorism law does not stipulate that paramilitary activities are illegal, Mahendratta said.
Police from Indonesia's elite Detachment 88 anti-terror squad arrested Bashir in West Java on yesterday.
Police allege the 71-year-old helped organise and fund a terrorist training camp uncovered in Aceh earlier this year and appointed Bali bomber Dulmatin as its field commander.
"He blessed and funded the training in Aceh and knew about the network's training and planning," police spokesman Edward Aritonang told reporters.
"He was in constant contact with the field commander."
Police allege the network behind the Aceh camp planned to assassinate Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and launch attacks on a variety of local and Western targets across the country.
Bashir is best known as the co-founder and spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, the terrorist group responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Bashir spent 26 months in prison for his role in the Bali attacks, but he was released and his conviction overturned in 2006.
Bashir subsequently founded a new Islamist group called Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) in 2008 as an ostensibly above-ground organisation.
But when several JAT members were arrested in connection with the Aceh terror network earlier this year it fuelled speculation police would go after Bashir again.
Bashir smiled as he was led into a police building in Jakarta on Monday afternoon, saying the allegations against him were "American fabrications".
But Ansyaad Mbai, head of Indonesia's newly established National Anti-Terrorism Board, said authorities had a strong case against the ageing firebrand.
"The police have been working based on strong evidence, not based on rumours," he told local radio.
Police have arrested or killed more than 70 terrorism suspects linked to the Aceh network since uncovering it in February. They killed Dulmatin during a raid in March.
They also arrested five suspects and seized explosive materials during raids in West Java at the weekend.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith welcomed news of Bashir's arrest. "Australia welcomes the fact that Indonesian police have today arrested Abu Bakar Bashir in connection with possible terrorism-related offences," he said.
The International Crisis Group last month said Bashir's arrest was likely to have little impact on Indonesian extremism.
"He is very much the elder statesman of Indonesia's radical movement, but he is neither the driving force behind it now nor its leading ideologue," it said in a report.
But authorities should handle the arrest with care to avoid a backlash, the ICG warned.
"The police will be under enormous pressure to produce hard evidence of criminal activities."
