Muslim cleric ready to answer for Bali bombings

? The ailing spiritual leader of an extremist Islamic organization accused of involvement in the Bali nightclub bombings said today that he would submit to questioning but resist efforts to detain him.

Abu Bakar Bashir was placed under arrest for a 2000 church bombing spree after he checked into a hospital in his hometown of Solo with breathing problems two weeks ago. Doctors said he could be released as early as Monday.

“I will reject all efforts to detain me, to the extent it is in my capabilities to do so,” Bashir said from his hospital bed.

However, Bashir said he would allow police to question him.

“I will respect the summons and will go to questioning. But my detainment is (illegal),” he said. “The terrorist governments of America and its allies have always wanted me detained.”

Police said they were waiting for the Muslim cleric to be released from the hospital before taking him into custody and questioning him about his alleged links to Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional Islamic group believed to be seeking a Muslim super-state in Southeast Asia and allied to al-Qaida. The group is suspected of the Bali nightclub bombing that killed almost 200 people. Bashir denies any link to Jemaah Islamiyah, and claims that such an organization does not exist.

Bashir, 64, was not arrested for the Oct. 12 Bali bombings but has been charged with ordering the church bombings that killed 19 people and plotting the assassination of President Megawati Sukarnoputri.