Former GAM negotiators to be tried

Former GAM negotiators to be tried

Agence France-Presse, Jakarta

Five former rebel peace negotiators will go on trial in Aceh province next week and face a possible death sentence if convicted on a charge of terrorism, the court's chief said on Friday.

Three of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) negotiators -- Muhamad bin Usman, Tengku Kamaruzzaman and Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki -- will be the first brought before the court for separate trials on Tuesday, Sabirin Janah, chief of the Banda Aceh District Court, said as quoted by AFP.

He said the other two -- Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba and Nashirudin bin Ahmad -- will appear on Thursday.

All are charged under antiterror regulations which carry a maximum penalty of death. They are also charged with treason under the criminal code, which calls for a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The government has accused GAM of staging bomb attacks in Jakarta and in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, allegations in which it denies.

Janah said seven special judges have been appointed to handle the case. They arrived in Banda Aceh on Wednesday from North Sumatra where they were seconded from their regular court duties.

The government on May 19 launched a huge military operation to crush GAM hours after internationally mediated peace talks broke down in Tokyo.

The five rebels had been due to join GAM's team in Tokyo but were arrested on their way to the airport. Aceh police freed them as the Tokyo talks began but rearrested them as soon as negotiations broke down.

Before the last failed round of talks, the five rebels had been sequestered for more than two years in a Banda Aceh hotel to take part in earlier peace negotiations.

Police have said dozens of other GAM members would face charges of subversion.

Tiba, a bespectacled lawyer, was the lead negotiator on the rebel team.

Kamaruzzaman, a soft-spoken man, once led an Aceh activist group. Marzuki, in his late 30s, once told AFP he joined GAM in 1989, had spent time in Malaysia, and formerly served in the rebels' "information" department.

Usman is in his late sixties. His wife has told AFP that he joined the rebels in 1976 and later spent 15 years in prison for his activities.

Earlier this month the Banda Aceh court sentenced Muhammad Nazar, 30, an activist campaigning for an independence referendum in Aceh, to five years in prison for sedition.

Judges said Muhammad Nazar, 30, was guilty of urging Acehnese to call for a referendum on self-rule and to support separatist rebels in three speeches in January and February this year.

Nazar heads the Aceh Information Center for a Referendum. In 1999 he organized a pro-referendum rally in the provincial capital Banda Aceh attended by hundreds of thousands Acehnese.

Nazar's sentence drew criticism, including from the United States, which stated it regretted the sentence.