Rights body confirms murder of unarmed civilians in Bireuen

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said on Friday that its team sent to Aceh had verified the May 21 incident at Matang Mamplan village in Bireuen, where seven unarmed civilians were shot dead, including a boy aged 13.

The media reported that the military committed the murder, but the military strongly denied the report, saying the victims were Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists.

However, the commission insisted that the killing was not justified as the victims were unarmed.

"Without being further investigated, they were told to walk and then shot one by one," said Zoemrotin K. Susilo, who read out the team's report during a press conference.

She lashed out at the shooting, saying that "people who do not have weapons should not be killed like that."

The commission's special team to monitor Aceh confirmed Komnas Ham also confirmed that other rights abuses had taken place during the first 25 days of the military operation in Aceh, and feared more cases.

Team members visited Aceh between June 5 and June 9,

The rights body said that there were a number of rights violations, including extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual harassment since martial law was imposed in the province on May 19.

"We have verified the reports and we found out that rights violations have occurred since the imposition of martial law," Zoemrotin said.

She also announced that there were cases of sexual harassment of women in a village.

"There was a group of men who came to the village. They claimed that they were searching for members of Inong Balee, the women's military wing of GAM. They forced the women to open their tops as they claimed Inong Balee members would have certain tattoos on their breast.

"The victims said that the men wore "brown uniforms and green vests reading Brimob", said Zoemrotin."

Brimob or the Police Mobile Brigade is the paramilitary wing of the National Police.

The commission also confirmed that police in Aceh had conducted arbitrary arrests of several activists and tortured them.

During the press conference, M.M. Billah, who headed the fact- fighting team, asserted that his team had obtained authentic information from credible witnesses, including those who spoke of the presence of military-trained militia groups.

"I shall state that we did not obtain information from the trash can," said Billah, adding that the team could not publish the names of witnesses or villages out of consideration for their safety.

He was referring to Indonesia Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto who accused the commission of publishing its findings without rechecking with the military.

"From what trash can did they pick up the term 'militia'? They should have known that the country has a doctrine of national defense where people are empowered to defend themselves," Endriartono said.

During the conference Billah wore a black outfit and covered his face with a black mask. He told reporters earlier that he "has been told not to speak out loud."

The military has imposed several restrictions on journalists and activists in Aceh in bid to support "the fight to protect the motherland".

Billah earlier told reporters of the possible presence of militia in Central Aceh and a mass grave in Nisam area in North Aceh. He said on Friday that a member of the commission in Aceh had reported the information and said that the team would verify the report next week.