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.