UN team looks closely at detention centers
JAKARTA (JP): A four-member team from the United Nations working group on arbitrary detention visited Jakarta Police headquarters on Monday to get a firsthand peek at a local police detention center.
Led by Louis Jonet from France, the group met with city police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman for a half hour before touring the detention center at the headquarters.
Andri Hadi, a foreign affairs ministry employee and interpreter for the group, said their visit to Jakarta was part of a planned observation of conditions in Indonesian police detention centers and penitentiaries.
"During today's visit, the team also went to the Salemba penitentiary in Central Jakarta and met several prisoners there," Andri told reporters.
He acknowledged the visit was in response to reports of alleged human rights violations in the country's law enforcement practices.
Andri declined to give further details, saying: "I'm only accompanying the mission."
Several detention center guards appeared jittery, continuously checking their walkie-talkies to find out if the visitors were finished with their meeting with Noegroho.
They were also busy ordering detainees to sweep the detention floor and mop it clean. They quickly ushered them into their cells when there were signs the group was ready to take its tour.
The center, with 26 cells and maximum capacity for 200 inmates, appeared quieter than usual with none of detainees walking around, smoking or sitting in the waiting room.
Of the 127 people currently in city police detention, there is only one foreigner, a man claiming to be a national of Sierra Leone.
He is accused of attempting to rob a bank at Plaza Indonesia shopping center in January.
None of the team members were willing to speak to journalists after they finished meeting several prisoners.
"It is too early from them to draw conclusions about this detention condition at the moment," their interpreter said.
He added that the group would hold a media conference after they finished their visit. (emf)