[JURIST] Indonesian police plan to request access to suspected al Qaeda bomber Ridhuan Isammudin [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] (a.k.a. Hambali), currently held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. A spokesman for the Indonesian National Police [official website, in Indonesian] said that they would coordinate a formal request [Jakarta Globe report] to question Hambali regarding the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings [BBC backgrounder] and his connection to the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) [CFR backgrounder; JURIST news archive] terrorist group. Indonesian authorities expressed their hope that Hambali would be deported to in Indonesia after the closure of the US detention facility.

Hambali was transferred to Guantanamo after his 2003 capture by US authorities [NYT report] in Thailand. In November, Indonesia executed [JURIST report] three men convicted in connection with the Bali attacks after the Indonesian Supreme Court rejected [JURIST report] last-minute appeals by their family members, and the men's request [JURIST report] to be executed by beheading rather than by firing squad. Last week, US President Barack Obama [official website] issued an executive order [text, PDF] to close the Guantanamo prison [JURIST report] in no more than one year. The policy shift has been hailed by human rights groups and international leaders [JURIST report].