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