HE was in his room less than an hour at the Victoria Hotel, on Saturday two weeks ago, when a group of plainclothes Italian Police officers broke down the door, searched the room, and hauled him off to the police station. Since then, Nader Taher, 51, has been a guest at the Regina Coeli, an ancient 500-year-old prison in downtown Rome.

Nader, a candidate for Governor of Riau, arrived by plane in the Italian capital on Saturday at 6am. He was part