JAKARTA, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Indonesia has imposed a one-year ban on a prominent U.S. terrorism expert days after the United States lifted a 6-year-old arms embargo.
The embargo was lifted in part because of Jakarta's progress in its fight against terrorism.
Sidney Jones, the Jakarta-based Southeast Asia project director for the International Crisis Group, was turned away at the Indonesian capital's airport Thursday after being told she had been barred from entering the country. No reason was given.
Diplomats said a ban on Jones would be a slap in the face of the United States, which earlier this week restored full military ties with Jakarta.
Jones is widely considered to be the world's leading expert on Jemaah Islamiyah. Her unvarnished reporting has angered some in Indonesian officialdom in the past. She was expelled from Indonesia last year by the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri after some of her reports upset senior intelligence officials.
