Priok witness describes abuse at hands of soldiers

Priok witness describes abuse at hands of soldiers

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A witness testifying in the Tanjung Priok rights trial told the
court on Wednesday that she was abducted and stripped naked by
military personnel during her detention following the bloody 1984
shooting incident.

Aminatun, the only female witness from among the victims
testifying in the trial of Maj. Gen. (ret) Rudolph Butar-Butar,
alleged that she was abducted from her home by five military
personnel and was stripped naked by female Army personnel during
her interrogation at the Central Jakarta military district
command.

She also alleged that the five military personnel who arrested
her at her home in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, stole her
belongings.

"They stormed into my house looking for evidence, and at the
same time took away all my books and my Singer sewing machine,"
said Aminatun, one of two witnesses who gave evidence to the ad
hoc human rights tribunal on Wednesday. The other witness was
identified as Hendriyana, a trader who lived around three
kilometers away from the scene of the shootings.

Aminatun said she and six others were taken away without an
arrest warrant in the early hours of Sept. 14, 1984, two days
after the shootings.

Aminatun also said she had not participated in the protest at
the Tanjung Priok police headquarters that led to the 1984
massacre. According to the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM), at least 33 civilians were killed and 55 others
injured in the incident. However, the military insists that only
nine were killed.

Aminatun and six others were taken to the Central Jakarta
military district command, where Aminatun's brother, Abdul Basir,
was already being held for being among the crowd of Muslim
protesters demonstrating at the police state, who were
subsequently fired upon by the military.

At the district military command, Aminatun was continually
interrogated by the military on whether she had ever attended
allegedly "provocative" sermons in mosques in Tanjung Priok and
why she wore a Muslim head scarf. She was never given any clear
explanations as to why she had been detained.

"Nobody answered me when I asked them what I had been arrested
for. Instead, I was slapped in the face when -- out of fear -- I
didn't answer their questions," she said, adding that she never
attended the sermons and that the wearing of a head scarf was
required of Muslim women.

But Aminatun's greatest ordeal had yet to come, when during
one of the interrogation sessions, female Army personnel removed
her head cover and stripped her naked.

"That was the most vile act they did to me. I felt so
humiliated. Eventually I suffered a mental breakdown," she said.
She became so emotional at this stage in her testimony that the
panel of judges had give her time to calm her down.

After her detention at the military district command, she was
then transferred to the military detention center in Cimanggis,
Bogor regency, West Java, where she claims she was the only
female detainee and was also mistreated.

"I was finally released after 45 days of detention, and after
that I was told to promise that never to reveal what I had
suffered or witnessed in Cimanggis," she said, adding that some
of her fellow detainees had been tortured to a state of
paralysis.

Aminatun also said that she was among the Priok victims who
attended the islah (Islamic reconciliation agreement) with the
military officers involved in the incident -- including Butar-
Butar and Gen. (ret) Try Sutrisno, who was at the time of the
incident the Jakarta military chief -- but was disappointed with
its results, and no longer believed in Try's own words that he
was the person "that should bear all responsibility".

"I am therefore hoping that justice can be served through
these trials, your honors," Aminatun told the panel of judges in
concluding her testimony.

Butar-Butar, who was the Tanjung Priok military district
commander in North Jakarta at the time of incident, is the 13th
of 14 military officers to stand trial for violations against
human rights during the incident.

Butar-Butar's trial was adjourned until Dec. 10, when the
panel will hear further testimony from witnesses.