Prisoners badly treated: Activists

JAKARTA (JP): Rights activists reported yesterday that political prisoners in a Jakarta prison have been mistreated despite their poor health.

The activists from three human rights groups told the National Commission on Human Rights that they knew of five ill political prisoners at the Cipinang penitentiary who are badly treated.

"Guards insist on handcuffing them when they (the prisoners) leave their cells for a medical checkup," said Gustaf Dupe from the Indonesian Society for Humanity.

The society is a Christian organization which sends its members to prisons on Sundays to lead prayers.

Gustaf identified the prisoners as Fernando de Araujo, who was jailed for seeking East Timor's independence; elderly Abdul Latif, Sukatno and Asep Suryawan, for their involvement in the Indonesian Communist Party's attempted coup in 1965; and Eko Maryadi, a member of the unrecognized Alliance of Independent Journalists.

The activists, who met with rights commission members B.N. Marbun and Saafroedin Bahar, said that Fernando has a complex illness of diabetes, kidney failure and heart disease.

They said that prison wardens are ignoring United Nations Resolution No. 663 C 1957 and No. 2076 1977 concerning "the minimum standard in treating prisoners".

Andriyanto, from the outspoken Pijar Foundation, said that prisoner Eko Maryadi's request to have a checkup outside of the penitentiary was rejected without reason.

Cipinang prison officials were not available for comment. (16/14)