ExxonMobil fights Indonesia rights suit
ExxonMobil fights Indonesia rights suit
Agence France-Presse, New York
ExxonMobil Corp is trying to persuade a federal court to
dismiss a year-old lawsuit against it that alleges complicity in
atrocities in Indonesia, court documents showed.
The group is arguing that the case could upset delicate U.S.
relations with the largest Muslim country in the world and
compromise Washington's war on terrorism.
ExxonMobil lawyer Martin Weinstein said Wednesday the
Washington District Court hearing the case had asked the U.S.
State Department, at the company's urging, for its opinion on
whether proceeding with the case would interfere with U.S.-
Indonesian relations.
"I believe that the State Department has serious concerns
about whether or not this case would impact Indonesia foreign
policy," Weinstein told the court, according to a transcript of
the April 9 hearing.
"We believe that Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the
world, a place where al-Qaeda-trained fighters are residing ...
this is a very difficult time in Indonesian-American relations,"
Weinstein said at the hearing.
The suit alleged that the world's largest oil company
contracted and paid Indonesian military forces to provide
security for its natural gas operations in Aceh, an oil- and gas-
rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra, and one of the
districts hardest hit by a separatist rebellion for a free
Islamic state that has been raging since the mid-1970s.
The suit filed by Washington-based International Labor Rights
Fund (ILRF) on behalf of 11 Aceh residents, alleges that members
of an Indonesian military unit murdered, tortured, raped and
kidnapped villagers in buildings located on property of Mobil
Oil, which merged with Exxon in 1999.
The company's tactics in the Aceh court case were one of a
long list of complaints raised by shareholders before they
presented a series of resolutions at the company's annual meeting
on Wednesday in Dallas.
"ExxonMobil's legal defense is to claim the suit by
International Labor Rights Fund is interference in U.S. foreign
policy," said Morton Winston, chairman of Amnesty International
USA's Business and Economic Relations Group.
"They are trying to involve the State Department to argue in
their favor. This is a novel and troubling legal tactic."
The suit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which
permits foreign citizens to sue companies in U.S. courts for
crimes, including human rights violations.
Exxon has denied that the company or its affiliates were
involved in the alleged abuse by Indonesian security forces and
has condemned any human rights violations.