Govt to deport foreigners detained in restive Aceh

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Medan

Two foreigners detained by police in the worn-torn province of Aceh, will be deported for abusing their visa regulations and banned from returning, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu warned that all foreigners wanting to visit Aceh would be checked by authorities in the province.

Directorate General of immigration spokesman Ade E. Dahlan told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Tuesday that Lesley McCulloch, a native of Scotland, and American Joy Lee Sadler were on their way from Aceh to Medan for immediate deportation.

The women were transferred from Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, to Aceh's capital, Banda Aceh on Tuesday.

"The pair will be deported for abusing their tourist visas ... we are waiting for a request from National Police," he said.

He said the women would be barred from returning to Indonesia for an unspecified length of time.

Ade said the pair would likely be deported from Jakarta where they had entered the country, but could also be sent packing from Medan should immigration authorities request it.

The women, both researchers, complained about their treatment since the pair were detained by soldiers at a checkpoint in South Aceh and turned over to police last Wednesday.

"I am extremely disappointed with the conduct of police toward us because they took our possessions and documents. They also took my cellular telephone so I could not communicate and contact my embassy," AFP quoted McCulloch as saying in Banda Aceh.

The women's comments contradict comments made by National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar to the House of Representatives on Monday, when he said they pair were being held for their safety.

He said the women were questioned because they had carried out activities incompatible with their tourist visas and they were found with materials relating to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists.

The material found on the foreigners needed further investigation, hence the decision to move them to Banda Aceh, he said.

He denied the authorities banned them from communicating with their embassies.

"In principle, they can communicate and there is no such ban," he said.

In Medan, Ryamizard said any foreigner caught abusing their visa regulations would be arrested, adding such procedures were applied in other countries.

The Army chief also said that there was no need for additional reinforcements in Aceh despite increasing tensions.

More than 900 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the province in the last nine months.

Both the government and GAM have agreed to further mediation efforts at the Henry Dunant Centre in Geneva, Switzerland by the end of this month or early October.