Tension and demonstration mark Aceh activist's trial<\/p>\n
Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post , Banda Aceh<\/p>\n
The trial of an Aceh activist in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh,
\non Monday turned tense when more than 150 supporters of the Aceh
\nReferendum Information Center (SIRA) staged a demonstration to
\nprotest the trial and the arrest of two other SIRA activists.<\/p>\n
The demonstrators, mostly students, noisily demanded the
\nrelease of SIRA chairman Muhammad Nazar while waving referendum
\nflags and Nazar posters as the leader of Nazar's defense team,
\nAbdurrahman Yacob, read out his client's response to the charges
\nbrought by the government prosecutors.<\/p>\n
The protesters called on the panel of judges to release the
\ndefendant as all the prosecution charges against him were
\nbaseless.<\/p>\n
A protester said in a speech that the arrest of Nazar was
\nagainst the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which they said
\nallowed the people to freely express their aspirations.<\/p>\n
He accused the Indonesian government of occupying Aceh and
\narbitrarily victimizing the Acehnese people.<\/p>\n
\"Thousands of Acehnese have been killed at the hands of
\nsoldiers even though Aceh was one of regions that supported the
\nfounding of the Republic,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The situation inside and outside the court became heated when
\ntwo SIRA activists, Muhammad T.A. and Faisal Ridha, were brought
\nby force to the Banda Aceh police station for questioning.<\/p>\n
The protesters dispersed when dozens of riot police guarding
\nthe court building promised to release the two activists after
\nquestioning. So far, however, the pair have yet to be allowed to
\nreturn home.<\/p>\n
During the hearing, Abdurrahman requested the panel of judges
\nto keep their promise to transfer Nazar to the city's Keudah
\nprison from the police detention center as his client was now in
\nthe custody of the prosecutors.<\/p>\n
\"The prosecutors are refusing the transfer our client to the
\nprison and the judges are doing nothing to stop this violation,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
He threatened to boycott the court if his client was still
\nbeing held in the police detention center by the time of the next
\nhearing.<\/p>\n
\"We will continue to have difficulties contacting our client
\nfor as long as he is in the police's detention center,\" he said,
\nadding that their client was sick and the medical service in the
\nprison was far better than that in the police detention center.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman also requested to the panel of judges to throw out
\nthe prosecution charges against his client as they were vague,
\nand order the prosecution to release him.<\/p>\n
\"The charges are obscure as he was arrested for delivering a
\nspeech to the Acehnese people. In fact, his speech made no
\ndifference to the situation in the province,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Nazar was arrested on Feb. 12 when he called on Acehnese
\npeople to demand a self-determination referendum for the province
\nas the central government has mistreated the people.<\/p>\n
The prosecutors charged the defendant with sowing hatred
\nagainst the government because he violated Chapters 154 and 160
\nof the Criminal Code, which carry maximum sentences of seven
\nyears imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Nazar has previously served a nine-month jail sentence in
\nKeudah prison for the same offenses.<\/p>\n
Security authorities in Aceh have closely monitored SIRA's
\nactivities following its support for a self-determination
\nreferendum in Aceh, instead of the independence that has long
\nbeen fought for by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).<\/p>\n
SIRA, which was supported by Acehnese students and
\nintellectuals, was involved in the 1999 mass gathering in Banda
\nAceh, attended by some two million Acehnese people.<\/p>\n
The Aceh conflict, which has claimed more than 12,000 lives
\nand displaced hundreds of thousands of others, broke out in 1976
\nwhen Acehnese people took up arms to protest what they regarded
\nas injustice and human rights abuses encountered in their attempt
\nto fight for the province's separation from Indonesia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tension-and-demonstration-mark-aceh-activists-trial-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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