Detention of American, Briton questioned
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The police have illegally detained American Joy Lee Sadler and Briton Lesley McCulloch as they were not charged six days after they were arrested, a lawyer said on Wednesday.
Aceh Legal Aid (LBH) director Rufriadi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the police should have released the foreigners as no charges had been laid against the two women.
Sadler, a retired Iowa health volunteer, and McCulloch, a British academic, were arrested in South Aceh on Sept. 11, but their legal status was not known until Tuesday, when the police charged the two with violating their "restricted tourist visas" by allegedly visiting the base of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Under Indonesian law, people in police custody must be charged within 24 hours.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Wednesday that the two women were suspected of conducting a series of activities related to GAM.
"They have violated immigration regulations and allegedly are connected with GAM activities," Da'i said after a Cabinet meeting at the State Palace.
He said that the police had found many documents regarding GAM in the women's possession.
"They were in a conflict area and violating immigration regulations, that's why we are investigating the case further," the police chief said.
Police spokesman Saleh Saaf said that the South Aceh Police were confining the two foreigners to their base for their own safety.
"We won't put them in a cell, but we also won't let them go out of the building. It's for their own protection. The circumstances in South Aceh are different. We should protect them, especially from the Free Aceh Movement because they visited them and are now being questioned by police," he told the Post.
Police questioned the women on Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a one-and-a-half-hour break in between.
Rafriudin, who accompanied the foreigners during their questioning, said that the questions focused on visa violations.
"The questioning will continue tomorrow (Thursday)," he said.
McCulloch could face up to five years in jail or a fine of Rp 25 million (US$2,800) if convicted of violating immigration rules.
Meanwhile, the British Embassy in Jakarta expressed concern over complaints that the police had mistreated McCulloch.
An embassy spokesman said they were particularly worried over McCulloch's allegations of abuse while in custody and also the way the 40-year-old Scottish academic and American nurse Sadler had been denied outside contact for so long.
"We are very concerned about the complaints made by Lesley McCulloch that she was allegedly mistreated," said the spokeswoman, adding that the embassy was also "very unhappy" it took so long to gain access to McCulloch, Reuters reported.
Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that McCulloch had slipped a distress note to its correspondent, who was traveling on the same plane as the three women.
"Held seven nights, denied right of contact with embassy, abused by army, knife held at my throat ... sleep deprivation, denied medical assistance, intimidation, sexual harassment," the paper quoted the note as saying.