Dutch parliament to hold debate on Munir

Dutch parliament to hold debate on Munir

Agence France-Presse, The Hague

The Dutch parliament will have an emergency debate Tuesday on the death of Indonesian human rights activist Munir, who died in September after he was poisoned on a plane en route from Jakarta to Amsterdam, the environmental Groenlinks (Greenleft) party said on Thursday.

Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner and Foreign Minister Bernard Bot will take part in the debate.

"There will be an emergency debate next Tuesday. We want the Dutch government also on behalf of the European Union to demand an independent investigation" into Munir's death from Indonesia, Farah Karimi a lawmaker for the Groenlinks party told AFP.

She explained that the Green party and the Socialist Party also wanted the autopsy report on Munir, done by Dutch doctors, to be given directly to Munir's family.

"Mister Munir was a human rights activist and such people should get international protection," said Karimi.

Indonesian police officers are currently in the Netherlands to investigate Munir's death and Jakarta has asked the Dutch ministry of justice to help with the case.

Munir, 38, was a dynamic activist who began work in the 1990s, providing legal counsel for victims of officially-sanctioned violence and repression during Soeharto's three-decade rule that ended in 1998.

He was also one of the driving forces behind an investigation that exposed military involvement in human rights violations during East Timor's 1999 independence vote.

According to the Dutch autopsy report he died of arsenic poisoning.