Indonesian VP visits detained Maluku militant

Jafar Umar Thalib is being held in connection with a raid that killed 13 Christians in Maluku

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz has visited the detained commander of a militant Muslim group, arrested for inciting violence in the riot-torn Maluku islands.

Haz spent one and a half hours with Ja'far Umar Thalib, commander of the paramilitary Laskar Jihad group, which has been blamed for fueling sectarian violence in Maluku.

Thalib was detained on Saturday in connection with an attack on Christians in Soya village on April 28, which killed 13 people.

He was also accused of having slandered President Megawati Sukarnoputri and the vice president in an inflammatory speech made in front of thousands of Muslims in Ambon, the provincial capital of Maluku, two days before the Soya attack.

In an extract of a tape recording of Thalib's speech played by police to reporters, the purported voice of Thalib could be heard saying: "Prepare the bombs which we have, prepare ammunitions for us to vomit out from the mouth of the weapons which we possess."

Haz emerged from the meeting dismissing suggestions of political interference into Thalib's case, saying his visit was in the name of "Muslim brotherhood."

"It is appropriate for a Muslim to come and see another Muslim in times of calamity," he said. "I came here as a Muslim, Muslim brotherhood."

"I am here not as a Vice President but as the head of the United Development Party (PPP)," Haz added.

Haz arrived at the national police headquarters in an official car along with several presidential guards.

The vice president said he had not asked for Thalib's release.

"No, I did not ask for his (Thalib's) release. I will not interfere with whatever the police are doing in their investigation of Thalib," he said.

Support for police

Indonesia's national police took a diplomatic stance toward the Vice President's visit.

"We view the visit as an expression of support to us, to push us to handle Thalib's case more seriously," national police spokesman, Saleh Saaf, told CNN.

Violence first erupted in Maluku in 1999. Laskar Jihad arrived on the islands the following year and has been blamed for deepening the conflict which human rights groups say has left more than 10,000 dead.

The situation calmed down in February after the government brokered a peace deal signed by Christians and Muslims who agreed to stop fighting.

Laskar Jihad has vehemently opposed the peace deal.

Following the Soya attack, the peace deal has been called into question.

Laskar Jihad has also been accused by the U.S. of having links with Al-Qaeda, a charge which the group as well as Indonesian officials have denied.

On Tuesday, Thalib also received visits from senior officials of the Crescent Star Party, a member of Megawati's ruling coalition.

Thalib's actions was defended by a deputy speaker of Parliament,.A.M. Fatwa, of the National Mandate Party, which is also a member of the government.

Fatwa was quoted by a local internet news service Detik.com as saying that during rallies, it was normal for a person to be "inflammatory."