Rights body faults use force in E. Timor protest

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)

Marker -- Page 2