Jailed activist's family complain to rights body
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)