Legal, human rights experts worried about dangerous trend

Legal, human rights experts worried about dangerous trend

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Several legal experts here are criticizing the Indonesian
government for virtually bowing down to the U.S. and its allies
in the "war on terror" at the expense of legal and human rights
issues.

Noted lawyer Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara who is also chairman
of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM),
condemned the government's use of intelligence agents to arrest
and spirit away suspected terrorists, arguing that "intelligence
information is not acceptable for the due process of law."

"We do not oppose intelligence activities here as long as they
are aimed at collecting data. But once it is used to prosecute
people, then that is a (human) rights violation," Hakim told The
Jakarta Post.

He was commenting on the recent arrest and extradition of Omar
al-Faruq, 31 -- whose citizenship remains a bit of a mystery with
some claiming he is Kuwaiti, while credible sources claim he is
Indonesian -- to the U.S. through an intelligence operation
jointly conducted by Indonesian intelligence and the American
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

A law professor here also questioned the legality of the
arrests in the context of a war, considering that this "war on
terror" was somewhat undefined and lacking in traditional
parameters, which opened a window for abuse of the law and human
rights violations by certain government agencies, both foreign
and domestic.

"Terrorism is not clearly defined in international law. It
actually comes under internal affairs of a country, although in
many cases we can see that several countries do join hands to
curb terrorist activities," Hikmahanto Juwono, a senior lecturer
of the University of Indonesia, said on Friday.

"If the U.S. insists on using the term 'war' (against
terrorism), they should follow the 1949 Geneva Convention which
grants the right of protection to war detainees, including an
assurance that they will not be tortured during interrogation and
are accompanied by lawyers," Hikmahanto added.

The convention classifies war into armed-conflicts and
conventional wars involving two countries or more.

"Led by the U.S., several suspected terrorists have been
arrested under what is classified as the war on terror, but I
don't see these suspects being treated as proper prisoners of
war," Hikmahanto told the Post.

Last year, another al-Qaeda suspect, Muhammad Iqbal Saad
Madni, 24, was spirited away to Egypt, escorted by CIA
operatives, only two days after he was arrested on Nov. 9 by
immigration officials at his residence in Matraman, Central
Jakarta.

Indonesian officials initially denied the arrests and
expulsions for fear of thwarting future operations.

According to standard police procedure, any arrest against
people suspected of crimes can only be made after the police
issue a warrant. The procedure is also said to be strictly
observed even in the country's conflict areas like Ambon, Poso in
Central Sulawesi, Papua and Aceh.

Nevertheless, when a suspect is caught red-handed, the police
are not required to get a warrant, according to Brig. Gen. Edward
Aritonang, a deputy spokesman of the National Police.

Edward cited a recent effort by the Central Sulawesi Police to
arrest Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, who was declared a suspect for
alleged possession of guns and ammunition. The police failed to
arrest him on their first attempt after apparently misspelling
Damanik's name on the warrant.

"We (the police) have to implicitly declare whether someone is
a witness or a suspect when we summon him for questioning,"
Edward told the Post.

Edward also referred to the arrest of Seyam Reda, a German
citizen of Arab descent, on Tuesday night at his residence in
Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. He was arrested "without a warrant
because he was caught red-handed and is facing charges of
immigration violations."

Edward refused to comment on the arrest of al-Faruq, but
stressed that "we will send our officers to the U.S. soon to get
an explanation."

Hakim urged the government to clearly define terrorism,
otherwise it could be applied to any type of crime.