Over 170 GAM members sent to Java<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro
\nand Suherdjoko
\nJakarta\/Semarang<\/p>\n
The Aceh authorities transferred on Monday 171 convicted Free
\nAceh Movement (GAM) rebels from jails in Aceh province to prisons
\non Java island.<\/p>\n
The transfer of the rebels to jails in Java was the third
\nsince the government imposed martial law in Aceh in May last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Also transferred on Monday was Muhammad Nazar, the head of the
\npresidium of the Aceh Referendum Information Center, who was
\nsentenced to five years in jail in May last year for spreading
\nhatred against the government.<\/p>\n
In January, the government sent a second batch of GAM
\nprisoners to the maximum security prison in Nusakambangan,
\nCentral Java. The first prisoner transfer took place in December
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
Monday's transfer brings the number of convicted GAM rebels
\nshipped out of Aceh to over 300. They have been placed in prisons
\nacross Java.<\/p>\n
At least 136 of the GAM rebels transferred on Monday were
\ntaken from Keudah prison in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
\nThey were taken on 10 trucks to the Sultan Iskandar Muda military
\nair base.<\/p>\n
They were loaded into a Hercules carrier, along with 35 other
\nprisoners from Lhokseumawe in North Aceh, that took off at 9 a.m.
\nand landed at Ahmad Yani Airport in Semarang, Central Java, at 3
\np.m.<\/p>\n
Family members gathered in front of Keudah prison saw their
\nloved ones boarding the trucks in chains.<\/p>\n
Muhammad Nazar's wife, Dewi, said the police did not inform
\nher of her husband's transfer until the last minute.<\/p>\n
\"The police told me about the transfer at about 7 a.m., saying
\nthat my husband would be moved to Java in about an hour. I
\nvisited my husband and talked to him for about 10 minutes before
\nhe was put on the truck,\" Dewi told The Jakarta Post by phone.<\/p>\n
\"My husband is sick and I don't have any idea how I will be
\nable to visit him while he is out of Aceh,\" she said.<\/p>\n
According to an official at the Central Java Justice and Human
\nRights Office, Marsono, 81 of the 171 GAM prisoners would be sent
\nto six penitentiaries -- 11 to Kedungpane prison, 20 to
\nPekalongan prison, 10 to Kendal prison, 10 to Pati prison, 20 to
\nSragen prison and 10 to Magelang prison.<\/p>\n
Marsono said most of the transferred prisoners had been
\nsentenced to at least three years in jail by the Banda Aceh
\nDistrict Court.<\/p>\n
\"All of the prisoners are male,\" Marsono said, denying that
\nCut Nur Asikin, a commander of GAM's female wing Inong Balee, was
\namong the prisoners transferred to Java.<\/p>\n
Marsono said the transfer was \"aimed at improving the spirit
\nof nationalism among Acehnese rebels\".<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Military has arrested thousands of suspected
\nGAM members since the government declared martial law in Aceh in
\nMay 2003, which has led to overcrowding in many of Aceh's
\nprisons.<\/p>\n
The declaration of martial law paved the way for a military
\noffensive against GAM, which has been fighting for independence
\nfor the resource-rich province since 1976.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/over-170-gam-members-sent-to-java-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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