Rights body faults use force in E. Timor protest

DILI, East Timor (JP): The use of force to quell the March 23 peaceful demonstration in the East Timorese capital has drawn fire from National Commission on Human Rights members.

Clementino dos Reis Amaral and Albert Hasibuan said Thursday that the security authorities' heavy-handed approach to demonstrators showed that human rights were yet to be duly respected and the rule of law should be put above anything else.

They made the remarks after visiting 24 protesters detained in the Becora prison, 11 demonstrators hospitalized in the military- run Wirahusada hospital and two female students detained at Dili's police precinct.

Amaral, who is an East Timorese native, said all the protesters sustained injuries they claimed were the result of security authorities' maltreatment during the anti-integration demonstration.

"All of the 24 protesters detained in the prison sustained injuries which suggest they were beaten up. They had swollen eyes, mouths, backs and chests," he told reporters.

Neither Amaral nor Hasibuan could confirm claims that some of those arrested had sustained gunshot wounds.

The youths had demonstrated at the Mahkota Hotel where visiting United Nations special envoy Jamsheed Marker was staying. They intended to meet with Marker to discuss human rights conditions in the former Portuguese colony.

Earlier, East Timor police chief Col. Yusuf Mucharam said the demonstrators were injured by broken glass when they ran from the hotel amid scuffles with security authorities.

"We conclude that he (Mucharam) received false reports from field officers," he said. "Beating up protesters is a violation of human rights. The authorities should not resort to violence in handling a protest."

Clementino said some of the detainees told him they were arrested on their way to a nearby church. Apparently, they were mistaken for demonstrators, he added.

None of those detained or treated in the hospital admitted to having brought sharp weapons, as the authorities claimed, but they did admit they carried posters, he said.

According to Amaral, the scuffle occurred after security officers inside the hotel prevented the youths from meeting with Marker. As they arrived, no one barred them from entering the hotel.

Hasibuan said the authorities shouldn't have taken the law into their hands.

"Law enforcers in East Timor should put the law above anything else in handling any affairs. The law has not been enforced as people expect," he said.

In Jakarta, the 33 East Timorese youths who left the Austrian Embassy at dawn Thursday after spending two nights in the mission were detained at city police headquarters.

Sources at police headquarters told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the 33 youths were taken from the Austrian embassy at dawn Thursday.

According to the sources, the youths refused to be called Indonesian citizens and claimed that East Timor was an independent country.

The youths scaled the embassy's wall Monday in an attempt to meet with Marker but not to seek political asylum.

Antara quoted the embassy's first secretary, Eleonora Windisch, as saying that the youths were taken away by the police in a waiting bus.

She said the Indonesian Foreign Ministry has promised to treat them well. (33/04/pan)

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