Indonesia detains British woman on terror suspect list

JAKARTA: Indonesia has detained a British woman named in a list of global terror suspects and plans to deport her for visa violations, authorities told AFP.

Tazneen Miriam Sailar – a Manchester-born convert to Islam once married to a nowdeceased Indonesian jihadist – is not charged with terror offences.

But she and her late husband are on a police list of suspected domestic and foreign extremists, including a Frenchman who appeared in Islamic State (IS) beheading videos and another close to the brothers who massacred staff at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Sailar, 47, and her 10-year-old Indonesia born son, were being held in Jakarta after they were picked up last year on allegations she didn’t have documents to remain in the Southeast Asian nation, according to her lawyer Farid Ghozali.

“She was put (in detention) while awaiting her return which will be facilitated by the British Embassy,” Indonesian immigration directorate spokesman Ahmad Nursaleh told AFP, without elaborating.

The British Embassy in Jakarta declined to comment and it was unclear when the deportation would happen.

The police document does not say why Sailar was listed along with some 400 other terror suspects, including her late husband who was killed in Syria in 2015, sources said.

The couple’s 2010 marriage was officiated by radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual head of extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), according to sources familiar with the case.

JI members were behind the Bali bombings which saw more than 200 people, including nearly 90 Australian holidaymakers, killed when massive blasts ripped through a pair of packed bars on the Indonesian holiday island in October 2002.

Sailar operated a charity named after her late husband, which sent aid to women and children in conflict-wracked Syria, sources said.

She arrived in Indonesia in 2005 as a medical volunteer for a Christian-based humanitarian foundation that assisted victims of natural disasters, Ghozali and a source said.

Alleged members of the Taliban and Islamic State (IS) appear on the Indonesian police list, as well as British Islamist Anjem Choudary and Sally-Anne Jones, an Islamic State (IS) recruiter reportedly killed in a US drone strike in Syria.

Sailar was born in Manchester on February 20, 1973 and holds a British passport, according to the list, which also said she goes by at least two aliases.

Indonesia’s counter-terror squad questioned Sailar but no charges were filed, her lawyer said.

“So we’re now focused on immigration matters,” he said, adding that Sailar wants to remain in Indonesia.