UN team observes RI jail conditions
JAKARTA (JP): A four-member team of the UN Human Rights Commission's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Wednesday the Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta as part of their mission to observe the conditions of jails and political prisoners in the country.
Team leader Louis Joinet told The Jakarta Post that during the three-hour visit to the prison they met with political prisoners such as East Timorese independence fighter Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, chairman of the banned People's Democratic Party Budiman Sudjatmiko and former members of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party. They also inquired about the legal process leading to their arrests.
"Frankly speaking, we're satisfied with the general conditions in the prison as we got all the information we needed and held talks with political prisoners who are still serving their sentences," Joinet said.
Members were Roberto Gareton, Marcus Smith and Osama. Joinet and Gareton are two of five members of the United Nations Human Rights Commission's working group.
Joinet said that their visit was the implementation of the commitment by the Indonesian government in the UN Human Rights meeting last year to allow the working group to observe the conditions of jails and political prisoners here.
The working group had been refused by the former New Order government to carry out such a mission following fierce criticisms by the international community of the country's poor human rights record.
Gareton said that the team, who arrived here on Sunday, has met with a number of Indonesian officials in the course of their inquiries into the conditions of political prisoners.
"We met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas on Monday and Minister of Justice Muladi on Tuesday. Yesterday, we made a visit to the City Police Headquarters and its detention center while, today, Wednesday, we have paid a courtesy call to National Police Chief Gen. Roesmanhadi and visited the Cipinang prison," he said.
The team was scheduled to leave for East Timor on Thursday to visit political prisoners in the provincial capital of Dili and Baucau before returning home on either Saturday or Sunday.
Joinet said that his team would disclose their findings both to the government and the press before discussions by the UN working group. The group would then make recommendations to the UN Human Rights commission and to the Indonesian government.
Joinet, also France's Chief Justice, declined to reply to questions on the team's closed meeting with Xanana, only saying it was "very interesting." He insisted the team's mission was not political but was aimed at observing the legal process attending the political prisoners' cases and their living conditions.
"However, the most important thing I can say now is that we are satisfied with President B.J. Habibie's government's openness regarding any information we needed," he said.
Lawyer Hendardi, who accompanied Xanana in the latter's meeting with the UN team, said Xanana had asked the team to press the Indonesian government to release all East Timorese political prisoners, including himself.
"Xanana and the other political prisoners in East Timor cannot be treated as criminals because they have fought for East Timor's independence and they should be released immediately," he said.
Xanana had also reiterated his pledge to help defuse tension in the province and to protect pro-integration groups. (rms)