Arrest of

Arrest of
students in Yemen

From Republika

We deem it necessary to clarify a report that this newspaper
published in its Jan. 30, 2003, issue under the title Two
Indonesian students detained in Yemen.

According to reports that we have received from the Indonesian
Embassy in Yemen, the two Indonesian students -- Suryadi Sadikin
and Mashuri Istab'at -- have been wrongly arrested by the Yemeni
security authorities, who have intensified their activities
following the Yemeni government's decision to prohibit foreign
students from studying at Al Iman University. Foreign students
studying at this university will be asked to move to other
universities or return to their home countries.

The report on this arrest has been linked, it seems, with the
murder of the deputy secretary-general of the Yemeni Socialist
Party in Sana'a on Dec. 28, 2002. Investigations carried out by
the Yemeni security authorities show that the perpetrator of that
murder was a graduate of Al Iman University, although the
university has denied this, saying that the person concerned was
expelled from the university after studying there for only a
year.

The Yemeni security authorities have confirmed that the two
Indonesian students are not guilty of anything and have not
violated any laws in Yemen. The students have also stated that
they were detained solely because they are students at Al Iman
University. Therefore, their arrest has nothing to do with the
political murder in Sana'a and the murder of three U.S.
missionaries in Yemen.

We can add that the two students have returned home, with the
Indonesian government paying their way. They left Yemen for
Indonesia on Jan. 11, 2003, and safely arrived in Jakarta on Jan.
13, 2003.

M. WAHID SUPRIYADI

Director for

Information

and Media

Indonesian Embassy

in Yemen