Jailed activist's family complain to rights body

JAKARTA (JP): The family of imprisoned journalist Ahmad Taufik protested yesterday because the former chairman of the unrecognized Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) was denied permission to attend his father's funeral.

Taufik's wife Sahafaah Illiyin told the National Commission on Human Rights the authorities at Cirebon prison, West Java, had denied her husband his rights despite them having met "every formal requirement".

"This is inhuman treatment," she said.

Illiyin pointed more specifically to how the family had been "ping-ponged" by Cirebon prison chief Djakaria and Director General of Correctional Facilities Thahir Abdullah.

She said the family first contacted Thahir for a permit but was told it was up to the prison chief to give Taufik leave to attend the funeral. When the family called the authorities again, they were told on-duty officials could not act without the director general's permission.

Djakaria refused to comment about his alleged inhuman treatment of Taufik, while Thahir could not be reached.

Illiyin, who took along her two-year-old son, was received by commission members Joko Soegianto, Soegiri, Mohamad Salim and Marzuki Darusman.

Marzuki said the commission would follow up the complaint by contacting the relevant authorities, including the Minister of Justice.

"The handling of this case shows how the system has become so bureaucratic that humanity is denied," Marzuki said.

Taufik, 30, is serving a 32-month sentence for sowing hatred against the government in the unlicensed magazine Independent.

Taufik's father, Abubakar al Jufri, 70, died Saturday afternoon. The burial was delayed until Sunday, not held promptly and on the same day as suggested in Islamic law, to give Taufik time to come from Cirebon, 250 kilometers away.

The funeral eventually took place at the Karet Tengsin cemetery, Central Jakarta, Sunday morning, after Taufik called from Cirebon Saturday evening to say he was denied permission. (08/anr)