Police round up activists, claiming GAM link<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post,
\nMedan\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
In support of the government's pledge to quash the Free Aceh
\nMovement (GAM), the police rounded up activists and other
\nindividuals and charged them with subversion over their alleged
\nconnection with the separatist group.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the Banda Aceh District Police declared a female
\nactivist, identified as 47-year-old Cut Asikin, as a suspect in
\nsubversion and terror cases in the province.<\/p>\n
Cut, who leads the Srikandi Aceh women's rights organization,
\nwas arrested at her residence in the Lampula area in Banda Aceh
\non Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Banda Aceh Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Alfons claimed that Cut
\nwas the leader of GAM's women's military wing Inoeng Balee.<\/p>\n
He told reporters that the police charged Cut for violating
\narticles on subversion from the Criminal Code as well as articles
\nof the Antiterrorism Law, which carries the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Cut, a mother of five, owns a hotel in Banda Aceh. She is
\ncurrently being interrogated by the police.<\/p>\n
Separately, the North Aceh Police arrested three people over
\ntheir alleged involvement with GAM during an operation dubbed
\n\"Balance Operation\".<\/p>\n
One of the suspects, 40-year-old Sheny Angelina, is the
\nsecretary to David Gorman, the spokesman of the Henry Dunant
\nCenter (HDC), which facilitated the peace agreement between
\nJakarta and GAM.<\/p>\n
Angelina was later released along with an unidentified
\nactivist. The third was still being detained for questioning,
\nsaid North Sumatra Police Chief Brig. Gen. Edi Sunarno.<\/p>\n
Edi told The Jakarta Post that Angelina and the two others
\nwere arrested at about 1:45 p.m. while on transit at Polonia
\nairport in Medan en route to Banda Aceh from Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The police alleged that Angelina, an Indonesian national, was
\na GAM negotiator, as she had attended the recent peace conference
\nin Tokyo, held in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the peace
\nagreement.<\/p>\n
\"The arrest is in line with (the government's) commitment to
\nlaw enforcement in its Balance Operation, which has been
\nconducted due to the tense situation in Aceh,\" Edi asserted.<\/p>\n
However, Gorman said that the arrest was a mistake.<\/p>\n
\"She is a staff of the Henry Dunant Center and has nothing to
\ndo with GAM. It (the arrest) was a mistake,\" Gorman told the Post
\nby telephone.<\/p>\n
Indonesian military authorities stationed in Aceh announced
\nthat they would take firm action against any GAM supporters,
\nwhether individuals or organizations, as part of its efforts to
\nreduce support for the separatist movement as part of the martial
\nlaw imposed by the government.<\/p>\n
Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, Aceh's military commander and the
\nmilitary law administration chief for Aceh, accused the Aceh
\nReferendum Information Center (SIRA) -- whose chairman is
\ncurrently on trial for violating the Law on Public Rallies -- and
\nthe Student Solidarity for the People's Movement (SMUR) of being
\nGAM sympathizers.<\/p>\n
He threatened to arrest their members if they continued their
\nactivities.<\/p>\n
Munir, a prominent activist, said that the moves to round up
\nhuman rights activists showed that authorities were attempting to
\n\"kill control agents by oppressing those elements by labeling
\nthem GAM sympathizers\".<\/p>\n
\"This tendency clearly shows a deviation from the military
\noperation in Aceh, as well as the government's aim to intimidate
\nnon-governmental organizations,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Munir said that military authorities must not stereotype NGOs
\nas GAM sympathizers, as many of them work in the area of human
\nrights, and had no political motives.<\/p>",
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