Former Indonesian Intelligence Chief denies link with CIA torture

Former Indonesia Intelligence Agency (BIN) Chief AM Hendropriyono has admitted to handing over three suspected terrorists to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), but denied any knowledge of US secret operations to detain and torture suspected terrorists worldwide in their battle against terrorism.

He said the suspected terrorists were arrested in Poso, Central Sulawesi in 2002 in an operation that had nothing to do with the CIA.

"We didn't get the order from the CIA. I remember that we arrested three foreign nationals who had evidently mastermided conflicts between Christians and Muslims in Poso around 2002.

"I finally decided to transfer the three suspects to the CIA because our own authorities, including the National Police and the House of Representatives, rejected our findings," Hendropriyono was quoted by The Jakarta Post, Saturday.

The daily reported that a 213-page report by the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) revealed that since 2002, Hendropriyono had allegedly aided the CIA in arresting three suspected terrorists, namely Muhammed Saad Iqbal Madni, Omar al-Faruq and Salah Nasir Salim Ali Qaru (Marwan al-Adeni), and claimed they were later transferred to other countries to be secretly detained and tortured.

The former intelligence chief said that following the rejection of BIN's findings, he had informed foreign intelligence agencies including the CIA, about the arrests of the three militants.

The CIA later asked BIN to extradite the suspects as they were on its wanted list, he said.