Detained actress Ratna hospitalized

JAKARTA (JP): Actress Ratna Sarumpaet, who stands accused of holding an illegal political meeting and is being held in custody at the Jakarta Police Headquarters, was rushed to hospital on Tuesday night with acute back pains, her relatives said yesterday.

Ratna was rushed to Metropolitan Medical Center (MMC) on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, at 9 p.m., after complaining she was unable to move her body, Ratna's son Muhammad Iqbal said.

"My mother has suffered back pain for almost two years. She used to be treated here," Iqbal told The Jakarta Post from the hospital.

He said Ratna was undergoing physiotherapy and her condition was improving.

Her lawyer, Johnson Panjaitan, said earlier that Ratna's illness had recurred because of the poor conditions in her holding cell.

Ratna rejected the authorities' offer of admission to the Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, because she considered the conditions there to be substandard, Johnson added.

Police turned down a request from her lawyers' that she be placed under house arrest. Her relatives plan to appeal against the decision.

Ratna was among nine people arrested in a hotel in Ancol, North Jakarta, at the so-called Indonesian People's Summit on March 11.

Ratna and five others -- her daughter Fathom Saulina, reporter Ging Ginanjar, lawyer Alexius Surya Tjahaya Tomu, activist Nandang Wirakusumah, and art worker Jul Taher -- are still in police custody.

The six detainees all filed lawsuits against North Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Rismawan and Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata over their arrest and detention, which they said was illegal. North Jakarta District Court rejected their allegations.

The case against them is scheduled to be heard by the same court next week. (jun)