Acehnese activist to be tried in Medan

JAKARTA: Human rights activist Muhammad Nazar, who has been accused of urging the Acehnese not to celebrate Indonesia's independence day, will be tried in a Medan court due to the lack of judges in Aceh.

Chairman of the Banda Aceh court, Farida Hanoum, revealed here on Tuesday that the justice minister appointed a court in Medan to try Nazar, chairman of the Information Center for the Referendum in Aceh (SIRA).

Farida said her office will send Nazar's dossier to the Medan court on Tuesday next week.

"Besides the lack of judges, the volatile security situation in the province was another consideration when reaching the decision to try him in Medan," she said.

Nazar, who has been in detention since Nov. 20 last year, organized a congress which demanded that the Acehnese be allowed to decide their own future through a referendum.

Fighting continues to ravage the oil-rich province despite the signing of a one-month moratorium on violence by the government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM). (lem)