JAKARTA. Authorities have claimed that the transfer on Saturday of terror convict Abu Bakar Ba’asyir from Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java, to Gunung Sindur prison in Bogor, West Java, was based on humanitarian reasons.

“There was no other motive other than humanitarian reasons. He is old so he needs access to a closer medical treatment center. At Gunung Sindur prison, the medical treatment facility is much closer,” Pasir Putih prison warden Hendra Eka Putra told journalists on Saturday.

The firebrand Muslim cleric was kept in an isolation cell at the Pasir Putih maximum security prison on Nusakambangan for the month before he was moved to Gunung Sindur prison. It is believed it will now be more difficult for Ba’asyir’s followers to meet with him.

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Before he was placed in isolation in Pasir Putih prison, Ba’asyir periodically received visits from his followers, enabling him to keep spreading his radical views.  

Security authorities transferred Ba’asyir from Sodong Quay on Nusakambangan Island to the Wijayapura Quay compound in Cilacap before taking him to Wulung Airport to depart for Bogor using a police aircraft.  

Ba’asyir has now been isolated in a special cell to prevent him from communicating with other terror convicts. He is also prohibited from seeing visitors apart from family members, lawyers and his medical team.

The South Jakarta District Court sentenced Ba’asyir to 15 years in prison in 2011 after he was found guilty of masterminding and financing armed group trainings on Mount Jantho, Aceh. He was locked up on Nusakambangan, where around 70 other terrorists are currently serving sentences.

Ba’asyir was held in the same prison as Aman Abdurrahman, a terror convict who is said to be a coordinator for the Islamic State (IS) movement in Southeast Asia, before being placed in isolation in Pasir Putih.

The 70 terrorist convicts are housed in several cells across six different prisons on Nusakambangan, namely Batu, Besi, Kembang Kuning, Pasir Putih, Permisan and a narcotics prison. (Agus Maryono)