Missing activists returned home safely

Missing activists returned home safely

JAKARTA (JP): Four agrarian activists missing since Aug. 14
have returned home safely after being abducted by an unknown
group, the Committee for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence
(Kontras) said on Sunday.

"All of the four men returned to Jakarta on Sunday," Kontras
executive Munir told a media conference at the Legal Aid
Foundation office.

Munir said the four activists from the Agrarian Reform
Consortium (KPA), a non-governmental organization, were resting
at their homes, suffering from "mental trauma".

The absence of the four victims at the media conference meant
reporters had no chance to ask them about their abduction.

"They told us that they were abducted on that day (Aug. 14) on
their way from Plaza Indonesia shopping center to Jl. Kebon
Kacang in Tanah Abang," Munir said.

The activists -- Anton Sulton, 26, Idham Kurniawan, 24, Usep
Setiawan, 28, and Mohamad Hafiz Asdam, 23, -- were on a hunger
strike at the MPR/DPR building demanding agrarian reforms when
they were forced by police officers into an ambulance at about
7:30 p.m.

"Police dropped the four at the General Elections Commission
(KPU) building on Jl. Imam Bonjol in Central Jakarta, where they
then walked to Sogo (department store) at Plaza Indonesia to have
dinner," Munir said.

The police had stated that during the MPR Annual Session
protests or rallies would not be allowed at the MPR building
compound after 5 p.m.

The four activists left Plaza Indonesia toward Jl. Kebon
Kacang, Anton with Usep and Idham with Asdam, Munir said.

"Two Kijang vans, which were apparently following the men,
stopped.

"Two people got out of one of them, pointed a gun at both
Anton and Usep, and bundled them into the van. Both their heads
were immediately covered with black hoods. Before their heads
were hooded, the victims counted six men," Munir said.

"The same thing happened to Idham and Asdam," Kontras
coordinator Gian Moko said.

Short hair

He quoted Usep as saying that the six kidnappers were well-
built and had short hair.

Gian said that the victims were then driven around for about
three hours, before being locked up in separate dirty rooms, each
equipped with steel-barred windows, a toilet and a mattress.

The four were locked up there for three consecutive days but
were given food, Gian said.

"The men who gave them food were masked and silent. Throughout
the ordeal, the victims were never tortured," Gian said.

"After three days, the four men were driven to different
places which none of them knew."

They were questioned about their ideas on agricultural
programs, laws and reform, and what they knew about land
reclamation, Gian said.

On Saturday, 12 days after being abducted, Usep was given a
Garuda Airlines ticket from Yogyakarta to Jakarta, under the name
of Umu; Anton received a Garuda Airlines ticket from Semarang to
Jakarta, under an undisclosed name; while Idham and Asdam were
given Mandala Airlines tickets from Surakarta to Jakarta, both
under false names as well.

"On that day, Usep contacted his friend from KPA and us. He
gave us details of where to pick him up," Gian said.

Kontras picked up Usep at Terminal II of Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport at 8:30 a.m.; Anton at 9 a.m., followed by
Asdam and Idham a while later, he said.

When asked whether he believed the activists were kidnapped,
Munir said he needed to question the victims further on the
matter.

But Gian said he was sure the victims were kidnapped.

"We have military sources who have confirmed the kidnapping,"
Gian said.

Separately, Jakarta Police spokesman Supt. Muhammad Nur Usman,
who also attended the press conference, said he strongly hoped
that the victims would file a police report against their
kidnappers, and help the police in tracing the whereabouts of the
culprits.

Meanwhile, National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM)
executive H.S. Dillon said the kidnapping was a "serious act of
intimidation, possibly by conglomerateurs who did not want their
land reclaimed."

"These (kidnapped) activists voiced the concerns of farmers
without land. The House of Representatives must look into this
matter," he said on Sunday. (ylt)