Six people found deaed in Aceh
Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
At least six people were killed during the Muslim New Year in Aceh after the local administration officially implemented syariah law last Friday, human rights activists said over the weekend.
Muslim Tanjung, a volunteer for the Indonesian Red Cross in Banda Aceh told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that he and his colleagues found three male bodies with gunshot wounds in a river in Cot village of Darussalam subdistrict, about 10 kilometers east of Banda Aceh.
Quoting Hasanuddin, an official from the Cot village office, Muslim said that a number of government security officers went to the village early on Saturday in search of two suspected members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), namely Yusri and Zulhari. But they did not find the two suspects.
At around 7 a.m. a series of gunshots were heard in the village. Then the villagers found the bodies of Syahria, 17, Muhammad, 18, and Mukhlis, 21, floating in the river with gunshot wounds to their heads.
"The victims, together with two other friends, were fishing in the river. The other two are still missing," Muslim quoted the official as saying.
He said that the three bodies were not taken to the hospital for an autopsy as their families asked the volunteers to bring them directly to their respective houses.
According to Muslim, the police took an unidentified body with many wounds to Zainoel Abidin Hospital in Banda Aceh on Saturday morning.
On Friday, the same day the local government kicked off the syariah in Indonesia's northernmost province, the volunteers also took away two bodies, respectively from Malahayati port, about 35 kilometers east Banda Aceh, and from Saree, some 70 kilometers east of Banda Aceh.
They were taken to Zainoel Abidin Hospital also and were said to have died from heavy beating and torture, as one of the bodies was dismembered.
The military spokesman in Banda Aceh, Lt. Col. Firdaus Komarno could not be reached for confirmation of the incidents by telephone.
The syariah requires all people in Aceh to dress according to the fundamentalist Islamic teachings, which according to some will thereby alleviate lustful feelings or thoughts.
Meanwhile, about 80 human rights activists staged a demonstration in front of the Aceh Police precinct on Jl. Cut Mutia, Banda Aceh, on Saturday morning.
The demonstrators, from 10 non-governmental organizations dealing with human rights along with the Aceh Students Action group, demanded that the police take responsibility for the kidnapping of three human rights activists, who were allegedly kidnapped by a group of police in Semet Montasik village, Aceh Besar, some 20 kilometers east of Banda Aceh last Tuesday.
Rufriadi, the director of the Legal Assistance Institution in Aceh (LBH Aceh), said that he had gone to the police office to inquire as to the whereabouts of the three missing people. But the police did not give a clear explanation.
The LBH has given legal assistance to Harsumi, the wife of Nasrullah Ibrahim, 48, a treasurer of the Human Rights Violation Victims' Brotherhood Solidarity (SPKP), one of the kidnapped victims.
The other kidnap victims were Muhammad Rizal Fahlevi, 23, and Muhammad, 22.
The Aceh Police could not be reached for comment on the kidnappings.
But Rufriadi said that based on reliable sources in the police office, the three people were currently in police custody in Aceh.