Twenty rape victims die, activists say<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Twenty women who were targeted in systematic
\nrapes and sexual assaults in Jakarta and other towns these past
\nfew weeks have died, some in the hands of their attackers,
\nactivists monitoring the incidents said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The activists from the Volunteers of Humanity said they had
\nsolid evidence of at least 168 rapes of women and children dating
\nback to the riots that broke out in May to as recently as July 3.<\/p>\n
\"152 women were raped or sexually abused in Jakarta and its
\nsurroundings, while 16 others were raped or sexually assaulted in
\nSolo, Medan, Palembang and Surabaya,\" the report said.<\/p>\n
Led by Catholic priest Sandyawan Sumardi, the group visited
\nthe National Commission on Human Rights yesterday to present the
\nreport which gave grisly and explicit details of the rapes.<\/p>\n
The report said 20 women and children were either murdered by
\ntheir assailants, burned to death after the rapists were through
\nwith them or subsequently died of their wounds.<\/p>\n
It tells the story of a nine-year-old girl who was gang-raped
\nin her house and then had her genitals mutilated. The girl died
\nin a hospital in Singapore later.<\/p>\n
The report were based on interviews with victims, their
\nrelatives and witnesses.<\/p>\n
Most of the attacks happened in North and West Jakarta where a
\nlarge ethnic Chinese community lives and works, the 18-page
\nreport said.<\/p>\n
It said many of the survivors, relatives of the victims,
\nwitnesses, doctors, hospitals as well as the volunteers had
\nreceived phone calls or letters threatening them if they
\ndisclosed their ordeal to the public or the authorities.<\/p>\n
The Volunteers for Humanity was the first organization to
\nraise the alarm about the systematic gang rapes during the May
\nriots.<\/p>\n
The activists urged the government to immediately disclose the
\nmasterminds behind these sadistic and uncivilized acts.<\/p>\n
The human rights commission last week put the blame squarely
\non the government for security lapses that allowed the rapes and
\nsexual assaults to become widespread.<\/p>\n
It has also demanded a public apology from the government for
\nits failure to protect people. (byg)<\/p>",
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