GAM leaders released by Swedish court

GAM leaders released by Swedish court

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

A Swedish court ordered on Friday the release of two exiled
leaders of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) accused by the
Indonesian government of staging assassinations, bombings and
kidnappings.

The Huddinge District Court in Stockholm, however, remains
uncertain whether prosecutors will drop their case.

The court ordered the release of the self-styled GAM foreign
minister Zaini Abdullah, 63, and the self-styled prime minister
Malik Mahmood, 64, ruling that prosecutors "have not presented
enough evidence to justify their further detention".

The two GAM leaders were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of
crimes violating international law. A third man, Hasan Tiro, 80,
who is the GAM chief, was not arrested because of health reasons.

"The court decided that there was not enough evidence to keep
them in custody," court clerk Lars Berger said as quoted by AFP.

The decision came just after the Indonesian police sent three
officers to Sweden to supply more evidence of the GAM leaders'
involvement in acts of violence in Indonesia.

Berger said he did not know if prosecutors would pursue their
probe. "What will happen now I cannot say. It's up to the
prosecutors to see if they want to pursue their investigation."

In Aceh, GAM commander-in-chief Muzakkir Manaf said his
fighters were not affected by the legal process against their
leaders in Sweden.

"We are committed to pursuing our goal to liberate Aceh from
Indonesian occupation, either through peace talks or military
means. We are also committed to pursuing armed struggle in
accordance with the Hague and the Geneva Conventions, although we
are yet to sign them," he said.

In Jakarta, the Supreme Court rejected on Friday the appeals
of five GAM negotiators, an Acehnese woman activist, two
referendum supporters and an Acehnese lecturer.

The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's guilty verdicts
against the nine, saying the local court had solid evidence to
back its verdicts.

"We rejected the appeals because we consider the Aceh High
Court presented the correct arguments," said Justice Iskandar
Kamil.

Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, GAM's chief negotiator, was sentenced to
15 years in jail, while negotiators Tengku Muhamad Lampo Awe,
Tengku Kamaruzzaman, Nashiruddin Ahmad and Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki
Mahmud received 13 years each.

Activist Cut Nur Asikin is serving an 11-year jail term. She
was a member of the Srikandi Aceh women's organization, but
security authorities accused her of also leading GAM's female
armed wing, Inong Balee.

Muhammad Nazar and Reza Pahlevi, the chairman and deputy
chairman of the Aceh Referendum Information Center, were
sentenced to five years and three years in jail respectively for
defaming the government.

A former lecturer at state Syiah Kuala University, Irwandy
Yusuf, was jailed for nine years for serving as a GAM
interpreter.

Nazar and some 140 other convicted rebels were moved to
prisons in Java earlier this year, including the Nusa Kambangan
maximum security prison in Central Java.