SIRA chief sentenced to 10 months in jail
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): The Banda Aceh Court sentenced Central Information for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar on Wednesday to 10 months in prison for displaying hostile intentions toward the state.
The 27-year-old defendant was found guilty of inciting hostility against the state.
Presiding judge Farida Hanoem said in the verdict that "Nazar has used the court as a platform to convey his political ideology, by stating phrases such as 'the nation of Aceh' and 'Indonesian neo-colonialist'".
Nazar's continued use of court proceedings to express his political beliefs certainly had not helped him, the judge said.
Prosecutors had earlier demanded a one-year jail term be imposed.
Nazar was arrested on Nov. 20, 2000 after he organized a mass rally in August last year, demanding a referendum for the determination of Aceh's independence.
He is charged under Articles 154 and 155 of the Criminal Code for showing hostile intentions/treason against the state.
Nazar told the session, which took place under heavy security, that he would appeal, charging that the trial was "an extension of Indonesia's colonialism".
Meanwhile, hundreds of SIRA activists continued their protest on Wednesday by staying overnight in front of the Netherlands Embassy on Jl. HR Rasuna Said, Kuningan in South Jakarta, Antara reported.
The group sang, held prayers and also made speeches demanding that the Dutch government sponsor a self-determination ballot in Aceh, Jakarta's SIRA coordinator Faisal Saifudin said.
Back in Aceh, Brig. Zulkarnaen of the Baiturrahman police subprecinct was shot dead by two men when he was approximately 300 meters away from his office at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Aceh Besar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sayed Husaini said.
In East Aceh, an unidentified man was gunned down on Tuesday when he tried to flee a police operation near a police station in Peureulak subdistrict, spokesman for the Cinta Meunasah II Operation Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo said.
Another rebel was shot and killed on Tuesday in Banda Aceh for resisting arrest, the officer said.
"Late on Tuesday, at around 10 p.m., armed rebels also detonated bombs at Bandar District office in Central Aceh before fleeing to Blang Pulo village where they burned down 15 houses, killing two locals," he said.
The police also claimed that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels had been involved in extortion and conducted a series of vehicle hijackings, with recent incidents occurring in South Aceh and West Aceh on Tuesday.
The situation in North Aceh and the Bireun regency, however, was relatively calm after both areas were declared security zones.
Separately, House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung said on Wednesday that the House had approved political support for policies taken by the government in an effort to solve problems in Aceh.
Akbar, however, noted that the government must periodically deliver a report to the House over every policy implemented in the province. (edt/02)