Hendripriyono spars with Munir team

JAKARTA: Human rights activists have urged the police to detain former intelligence chief A.M. Hendropriyono for what they called "attempts to avoid investigation" in connection with the death of rights champion Munir last year.

"The police have sufficient reason to detain Hendropriyono because he has tried to block the investigation," Johnson Pandjaitan of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association said on Wednesday.

Activists from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence protested statements made by Hendropriyono during an interview aired by Metro TV channel on Tuesday night.

Hendropriyono criticized the government-sanctioned fact- finding team looking into Munir's death for a "lack of professionalism".

Hendropriyono has filed a police complaint against the team for defamation.

The team wants to question Hendropriyono to seek his clarification of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN)'s alleged link to the Munir case. On Tuesday, the team summoned former BIN secretary-general Nurhadi Djazuli and current BIN secretary- general Suparto for questioning, but neither man appeared. --JP