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.