Aceh referendum fighter goes on trial for treason

Aceh referendum fighter goes on trial for treason

Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh

A proindependence Acehnese woman activist went on trial at the
Banda Aceh District Court on Tuesday on charges of treason that
could lead to a 20 year prison sentence if she is convicted.

In the meantime, security authorities insisted they would
continue to intensify their hunt for separatist rebels as part of
the integrated operation to restore security and order in the
conflict-ridden province.

Cut Nurasyikin, 48, a fighter for a self-determination
referendum for Aceh was indicted under Articles 55 and 64 of the
Criminal Code for sowing enmity and hatred against the legitimate
government and campaigning for a referendum for Aceh's
independence.

In the court session presided over by Judge Hamdan Hasibuan,
government prosecutor Muhibbudin said that he had as evidence the
defendant's antigovernment speech delivered to a gathering
organized by the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) in the
city on Nov. 9, 1999.

"During the meeting, the defendant said that if Aceh could not
gain independence through a referendum, a war had to be waged.
Besides, she also said that the Acehnese people must be freed
from Indonesia's occupation because the Acehnese people have
sovereignty over their own territory," the prosecutor quoted the
defendant as saying in the speech.

According to the prosecutor, besides fully supporting the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM), the defendant was also one of former members
of the joint committee supervising the peace talks in the
province in 2000.

Nurasyikin's lawyer Darwis who declined to present his defense
in the first session, said he would do it in the next session.

"It is the most minor treason case tried in the district court
and it is similar to the case of SIRA Chairman Muhammad Nazar who
is serving a five-year prison sentence in the city.

The session was adjourned until next Tuesday to hear
witnesses' testimony.

In a related development, the court also rejected the
objection by five former GAM negotiators that the court did not
have the authority to try them.

The court said it had the authority to try the five former GAM
peace negotiators who were indicted on charges of terrorism and
treason.

Three of the five defendants, Tengku Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba,
Nashiruddin bin Ahmad and Teuku Kamaruzzaman, said in the
previous trial that they should be tried in Jakarta because all
peace talks they mediated were between the Indonesian government
and GAM in Sweden.

The police said that they would continue to interrogate
suspected GAM members in an attempt to get information on rebel
hiding places in the province.

Spokesman for the Aceh Provincial Police Adj. Sr. Comr. Sayed
Hoesainy said that since the launching on May 19 of the military
operation, 147 rebels had been arrested and 156 others had
surrendered voluntarily to the police and the military.

"Besides gaining necessary information on rebels' hiding
places, the police will also bring them to court," he said,
adding that the dossiers of 205 suspected rebels had been
submitted to the government prosecutor's office while nine other
cases that involved 13 GAM rebels in Central Aceh had already
been tried.

Banda Aceh Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Alfon warned city
residents against possible terror attacks by rebels following the
finding of a homemade bomb in Ateuk Pahlawan subdistrict in the
city on Tuesday.

"Over the last two weeks, three bombs were found in different
places in the city. The bombs were reportedly planted by rebels
in their attempt to disrupt the observance of Independence Day
that falls on Sunday," he said. The bombs were defused by the
provincial police bomb squad.

He added that the martial law administration had deployed more
than 1,100 soldiers and police to beef up security in the
provincial capital on the eve of Independence Day.