UN team looks closely at detention centers
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)