Arrest of rights activists condemned

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A human rights activist criticized on Monday the arrest of Aceh students and rights activists during the first week of a major military campaign against rebels in Aceh, warning it could worsen human rights violations by the military and the police.

"It has long been known that the TNI (the Indonesian Military) has always been reluctant to allow investigations into possible human rights violations," sociologist and human rights activist Otto Syamsudin Ishak told The Jakarta Post. "These arrests are the only way for the security apparatus to limit the access of activists investigating human rights abuses in Aceh."

As of Monday, 45 students and activists had been apprehended since the military operation began in Aceh on May 19.

They might have links with Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists, said Aceh Police chief Inspector General Bachrumsyah Kasman.

Among the 45 suspects, 19 could face charges of subversion.

These include the GAM representatives at the Joint Security Committee (JSC), a forum to implement the now-defunct peace accord with GAM signed in December last year.

The GAM representatives, Teuku Kamaruzzaman, Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, Muhammad Usman Lampoh Awe, Nasiruddin bin Ahmad and Amni bin Marzuki, were arrested shortly before they tried to leave for the Japanese capital, Tokyo, to attend a last-ditch meeting to save the peace accord.

"Those proven to be members of GAM, or its supporters, will be indicted on charges liable to capital punishment," said Kasman, as quoted by Antara on Monday.

Conversely, he added, the police would free any arrested persons with no proven links to GAM.

However, Otto said that human rights activists had been deliberately targeted and thus were liable to false arrest.

The detention of human rights monitors, he warned, could give leeway to Indonesian and GAM troops to commit more human rights abuses.

Amnesty International voiced its concern over a surge in abuses since martial law was declared in Aceh on May 19, AFP reported.

"Reports already indicate that this is the case -- that civilians, including children, have been subject to extrajudicial execution, and that many thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes..." said an Amnesty report at the weekend, which faulted both GAM and Indonesian troops.

Journalists covering the war have also been subject to police questioning over reports of human rights abuses by the TNI.

Otto demanded the National Commission on Human Rights (KOMNAS HAM) intervene to protect activists from arbitrary arrest.

He added that civil groups at home and abroad were also asked to support their peers in Aceh. He called for pressure to be brought against the Indonesian government to allow human rights monitors free access into the war-torn province.