Aceh separatists free 'TVRI' crewmen

Aceh separatists free 'TVRI' crewmen

Ibnu Mat Noor and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Medan

Two technicians of state television broadcasting service TVRI
in Banda Aceh have returned to Medan safely after being released
by the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Monday, leaving
another still held hostage.

Kesuma Wijaya and Bahrum Pohan said, in their first public
appearance on Aceh TV news broadcast on Wednesday, that in their
homes in Medan that they had been treated properly and felt all
right.

The release of Kesuma and Bahrum on Monday was the second
after GAM had set free Suheri, also a Banda Aceh TVRI technician,
on September 6 due to ill health.

The other man held by the separatist movement in Peureulak,
East Aceh, is East Aceh councillor Ghazali Usman, who is
reportedly also in poor health.

Spokesman for GAM's Peureulak territory Ishak Daud returned
the two TVRI employees in a ceremony to T. Syahrizal Mahmud,
chairman of the self-styled Free Deli movement, believed to be
descendants of the Deli Sultan. Syahrizal subsequently handed
them to Leonardo Escobar of the International Red Cross.

According to Ishak Daud, the release of the TVRI crew members,
mostly held for allegedly biased reporting on GAM, was based on
"humanitarian considerations, TVRI's growing independence and
GAM's solidarity toward the struggle for Free Deli, as the two
are of Deli origin."

After their release from a village in Peureulak, the two were
taken to Langsa blindfolded, where their wives had been waiting
at Hotel Kartika Langsa.

Accompanied by four Banda Aceh TVRI crew members, they later
left for the TVRI station of Medan, North Sumatra, to spend the
night in Medan before returning home, and have since been
unavailable for comment.

Until they spoke on TV, however, the whereabouts of these
newly freed hostage victims remained unknown, while The Jakarta
Post was told on Monday "their homes in Medan are no longer
occupied."

Aceh TVRI Director Kori Hasibuan confirmed on the same day
that Kesuma and Bachrum had been safely taken from Peureulak and
Langsa to their village homes in Medan.

Meanwhile, Medan TVRI sources said the two had deliberately
avoided the mass media following their release in order to calm
themselves down.

As admitted to the sources upon arrival at Medan station,
during their detention they were not treated harshly and ate the
same food as GAM.