Komnas HAM attackers sent to jail

JAKARTA: The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced six members of the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) on Monday to six months in jail for an attack on the offices of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) last year.

Presiding Judge Iskandar Tjakke found Endang Saidi and Daniel Al Haz guilty for instigating the attack, in which a Komnas HAM staff member and several people representing the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), who were filing a complaint with Komnas HAM, were injured.

In a separate trial of the same case, presiding Judge M. Daning Sanusi handed down sentences to four other FBR members, Ahmad Gunarso, Wartono, Yayat Hardian and Dedy Bachtiar, for causing damage to the Komnas HAM office in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

All six men were charged with violating Article 170 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

Claiming to be native Jakartans, FBR has repeatedly shown hostility toward the UPC and its leader Wardah Hafidz, who have strongly criticized the city administration's discriminatory policy toward the poor. -- JP