Court rules against police

JAKARTA: The South Jakarta District Court decided on Monday that the arrest of two members of a Surakarta-based group by Jakarta Police last month was unlawful.

Presiding judge Abdul Madjid said that Karmidi and Ahmad Khoiri were arrested without a warrant and that police did not find any weapons on them.

The judge said that on Oct. 13 at about 7:30 p.m., some 600 members of Surakarta Islam Defenders Front (FPIS) arrived at Pasar Senen railway station in Central Jakarta to join demonstrations against the U.S military strikes on Afghanistan.

At that time, the police arrested 66 people and detained them at the Jakarta Police Headquarters until 11 a.m. the following day.

The court also ordered Jakarta Police chief Gen. Insp. Sofjan Jacoeb to give Rp 100,000 in compensation to each of the plaintiffs. The amount was much less than the Rp 1 million demanded by the defendants. Karmidi is a laborer while Ahmad is a small scale trader.--JP