Acehnese activists trial starts very late<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The hearings for two Acehnese activists at South Jakarta
\nDistrict Court were, unusually, held very late on Monday,
\nsparking suspicion that it was part of a ploy to avoid media
\ncoverage.<\/p>\n
The first, for defendant Taufik Abdullah, 30, commenced at
\n3:15 p.m., when a defense witness gave his testimony.<\/p>\n
Taufik is accused of illegal possession of explosives linked
\nto the bomb blast at Iskandar Muda student house on Jl. Perahu
\nNo.1, Guntur subdistrict, Setiabudi district, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Presided over by judge Hesmu Purwanto, the trial was held in a
\ncourtroom, where the hearing for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
\nactivist, Nashiruddin Ahmad, was scheduled to take place.<\/p>\n
Nashiruddin, 41, was chairman of the Joint Committee of
\nSecurity Affairs of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the talks
\nbetween the Indonesian government and GAM on July, 1, 2001 in
\nGeneva, Switzerland.<\/p>\n
Nashiruddin, his lawyer Garda Sembiring and prosecutor Mawardi
\nAdam, as well as others, including media reporters, were ready at
\nthe courtroom when they were asked to leave as the room was
\nrequired for Taufik's hearing.<\/p>\n
Grumbling, a TV reporter complained about the late hearing,
\nsuspicious that the court was trying to avoid media coverage.<\/p>\n
\"It (the court) must know well that our time here is limited
\nby reporting deadlines,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Nashiruddin was charged with passport forgery. If found
\nguilty, he could be sentenced to a maximum seven-year jail
\nsentence.<\/p>\n
His trial, presided over by judge I Dewa Gde Putra Jadnya, was
\nheld at about 4 p.m. and later moved to another courtroom to hear
\nwitness testimonies.<\/p>\n
Taufik's lawyer, Taufik Basari of Jakarta Legal Aid Institute,
\nsuspected that the court had deliberately held the hearing very
\nlate in order to avoid media coverage.<\/p>\n
He said he was told that the hearing was late as all rooms
\nwere in use.<\/p>\n
However, many reporters who arrived at the venue after 10 a.m.
\nfound that several rooms were. The court's main room, the Garuda
\nroom, in which Taufik's hearing was held, remained closed until
\n12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Garda said the legal processing of Nashiruddin was, in fact, a
\npolitical rather than a criminal matter.<\/p>\n
\"The Nashiruddin case has been politicized by the government,\"
\nGarda said.<\/p>",
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