|
Chairwoman
DPP PDI
(Perjuangan)
Jl. Diponegoro 58
Jakarta
|
X-URL: http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports98/indonesia/indo1-0.htm
Release Prisoners Of Conscience Now!
A Joint Human Rights Watch - Amnesty International report
The pattern of systematic human rights violations that characterized
former President Suharto's thirty-two year rule is perhaps best
symbolized by the people he imprisoned for political activities.
President Habibie could take no step more calculated to distance
himself from the abuses of his predecessor and mentor than to release
all of those still in jail for nonviolent opposition to the government
of Suharto. As of June 4, he had only released four: Muchtar Pakpahan,
a labor leader; Sri Bintang Pamungkas, a former parliamentarian and
head of the Indonesian United Democratic Party (PUDI); Nuku Soleiman,
a political activist; and Andi Syahputra, printer of an underground
magazine. Several others, on trial when the new government came to
power, have since been acquitted.
_______________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATIONS
As a gesture of willingness to institute genuine human rights reforms,
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urge the Habibie
government to:
* immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of
conscience;
* drop any outstanding charges against individuals awaiting trial
for their nonviolent political activities;
* ensure the review of the convictions of all political prisoners
with a view toward amnesty or fair and independent retrial if
there is reason to believe that their trials were unfair and/or
their convictions based on information extracted by torture;
* ensure that there are immediate, thorough, and independent
investigations into all allegations of torture and ill-treatment
of political prisoners;
* repeal the laws, regulations, and decrees that have been used to
imprison people for the peaceful expression of their political
views, particularly the Anti-subversion Law and the articles of
the Criminal Code that penalize "hate-sowing" and "insulting the
president";
* make a commitment to ensuring that there will be no further
arrests of individuals engaging in the peaceful expression of
their beliefs;
* investigate all the recent cases of "disappearances" with a view
to establishing the whereabouts of all persons who are still
"disappeared" and ensuring that those responsible are brought to
justice. If agents of the state are found to have been involved,
the resurfaced "disappearance" victims should receive generous
compensation for the suffering they endured.
____________________________________________________
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch join with Indonesian
human rights organizations in calling for the immediate and
unconditional release of all men and women imprisoned for nonviolent
expression of their views and for the repeal of the laws and
presidential decrees that have been used over the last three decades
to punish peaceful dissent. The prisoners who should be released
without delay include members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD)
and its affiliates who remain in prison in Jakarta and Surabaya, the
East Timorese accused of organizing the march to Santa Cruz cemetery
in November 1991, a community organizer in Tasikmalaya, several
university lecturers from Aceh, and organizers of peaceful
pro-independence demonstrations in Irian Jaya.
Several labor and political activists charged for their involvement in
nonviolent political activities since the beginning of 1998 are
currently either on trial or awaiting trial. Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch believe that the charges against these people
should be immediately dropped.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are also calling for the
immediate release of the thirteen remaining prisoners accused of
involvement with the Indonesian Communist Party (Partai Komunis
Indonesia or PKI), many of whom have been in prison for more than
three decades, all of whom had trials that were unfair by
international standards, and many of whom are suffering severe health
problems.
The two organizations believe that all those who have been imprisoned
for alleged involvement in violent political activities -- including
those from Aceh, Irian Jaya, and East Timor, the three areas where
armed insurgencies are active, and those accused of trying to
establish an Islamic state -- must now be given the opportunity to
have their convictions reviewed by an independent body which meets
international standards of fairness and impartiality. Such a body
could operate under the Indonesian National Commission of Human Rights
(Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia, Komnas HAM). Many of these people
were tried and convicted on the basis of information extracted by
torture or without adequate access to counsel.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are concerned about
statements made by President Habibie and Justice Minister Muladi that
prisoners and detainees who are considered Marxist, opposed to the
constitution and Pancasila, or criminals will not be released. Not
only should Indonesians have the right to freely express their
opinions on any subject, including Marxism and Pancasila, but in the
case of those detained, the determination of who was a Marxist or who
opposed the constitution was made by a politicized court system at the
direction of a discredited government. Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch therefore urge the Habibie government not to exclude any
category of prisoners of conscience from release.
Who are "Political Prisoners" and Prisoners of Conscience?
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch make a distinction
between political prisoners who have used violence and those detained
or imprisoned solely for nonviolent activities. The latter, whom
Amnesty International calls "prisoners of conscience," are defined as
people detained anywhere for their beliefs or because of their ethnic
origin, sex, color, language, national or social origin, economic
status, birth or other status, who have not used or advocated
violence. A list of known prisoners of conscience in Indonesia and
East Timor is appended to this report, and Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch believe all of them should be immediately and
unconditionally released.
Political prisoners are those who have been convicted on the basis of
their political activities who may have used violence in support of
their activities. There are over one hundred political prisoners
serving prison sentences for subversion, murder, illegal possession of
weapons, and rebellion, who were charged with using or inciting the
use of violence. These include most of the prisoners in East Timor,
Irian Jaya, and Aceh. Some may well be prisoners of conscience, but
too little information is available about them to determine this. In
other cases, the use of violence was well-substantiated. Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch believe, however, that few if any
members of this group received trials which met international
standards of fairness, and that as a result the government should
immediately allow for the independent review of all their convictions.
Legislation and regulations used to detain opponents
A range of legislation has been used by the Indonesian Government to
imprison government critics and opponents, whether engaged in peaceful
activities or armed struggle. The Anti-subversion Law (Presidential
Decree 11/1963), which has been employed extensively to punish
peaceful critics and political opponents, contains vague and sweeping
language that permits the prosecution and conviction of anyone whose
words or actions can be disruptive of public order, the state
ideology, the government, its institutions, or its policies.
Many articles of the Indonesian Criminal Code have also been used to
imprison peaceful critics. Articles 154, 155, and 156, the so-called
"hate-sowing" articles, punish "spreading feelings of hatred toward
the government" with prison terms of up to seven years. Articles 134,
136 and 137 allow for the imprisonment for up to six years of
individuals alleged to have insulted the President or Vice-President.
Article 160, which punishes incitement to violence, has also been used
to detain nonviolent critics; it carries a penalty of six years in
prison.
More rarely, the government has used two other decrees in political
cases. Law No. 5/1963 banning all forms of political activity was
dusted off after decades of disuse and brought out in the government's
response to growing opposition demands in the early months of 1998. It
allows for the imprisonment of peaceful critics for up to five years.
Emergency Law No. 12 of 1951, which bans the use or possession of
certain kinds of weapons, has also been used extensively. Articles of
the Criminal Code relating to rebellion (Articles 104, 106, 107, 108
and 110) have been used against suspected insurgents in East Timor,
Aceh, and Irian Jaya.
Under the Suharto government, prisoners of conscience and political
prisoners in Indonesia and East Timor were often denied their right to
a fair trial. Procedural violations occurred at all stages of arrest,
detention, investigation, and trial. Suspected political offenders
were frequently taken into custody by army intelligence officers, who
under Indonesian law have no authority to make arrests. Those arrested
frequently were not informed about the precise charges against them
and their families were often not notified of the arrest. Detainees,
especially those outside Jakarta or other major cities, were often
held in incommunicado detention where they were denied access to
independent human rights lawyers and their families. If access to
lawyers was granted, that access was frequently restricted. In some
cases, detainees were told that if they chose independent lawyers,
they would receive a heavier prison sentence. Torture and
ill-treatment were used commonly to extract information, testimonies
or confessions.
Trial irregularities often included restrictions on defendants' right
to present witnesses, intimidation of defense witnesses and the denial
of the defense's right to cross-examine prosecution witnesses.
Convictions were also frequently based on testimony or confessions
extracted under duress. When pre-trial irregularities were brought to
the attention of the courts, they were routinely ignored, and the
legal procedure for challenging such irregularities almost never
resulted in a victory for the defendant. In many cases, witnesses who
might have helped the defendants were too afraid to testify,
particularly in areas such as East Timor, Irian Jaya, and Aceh.
Political trials almost always resulted in convictions.
Another common feature of imprisonment under the New Order Government
was the practice of jailing many prisoners of conscience and political
prisoners hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of miles away from
their homes, placing great difficulties and financial constraints on
members of their families seeking to visit them. This was particularly
true of prisoners from East Timor and Irian Jaya.
As a gesture of willingness to institute genuine human rights reforms,
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urge the Habibie
government to:
* immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of
conscience;
* drop any outstanding charges against individuals awaiting trial
for their nonviolent political activities;
* ensure the review of the convictions of all political prisoners
with a view toward amnesty or fair and independent retrial if
there is reason to believe that their trials were unfair and/or
their convictions based on information extracted by torture;
* ensure that there are immediate, thorough, and independent
investigations into all allegations of torture and ill-treatment
of political prisoners;
* repeal the laws, regulations, and decrees that have been used to
imprison people for the peaceful expression of their political
views, particularly the Anti-subversion Law and the articles of
the Criminal Code that penalize "hate-sowing" and "insulting the
president";
* make a commitment to ensuring that there will be no further
arrests of individuals engaging in the peaceful expression of
their beliefs;
* investigate all the recent cases of "disappearances" with a view
to establishing the whereabouts of all persons who are still
"disappeared" and ensuring that those responsible are brought to
justice. If agents of the state are found to have been involved,
the resurfaced "disappearance" victims should receive generous
compensation for the suffering they endured.
A brief description of Indonesia's political prisoners follows,
divided into "prisoners of conscience"; alleged PKI members and
supporters; those accused of violence, including suspected insurgents
and Muslim militants; and the "disappeared".
Indonesia's Prisoners
* I. "PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE"
* II. THE PRISONERS LINKED TO THE PKI
* III. PRISONERS ACCUSED OF VIOLENCE
* IV. "DISAPPEARANCE" VICTIMS
* V. RELEASED PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE
**********************************
X-URL: http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports98/indonesia/indo1-1.htm
Release Prisoners Of Conscience Now! II. The Prisoners Linked To The
PKI
Indonesia's Prisoners
I. "PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE"
Prisoners of conscience include labor and student activists, political
dissidents, Muslim activists, Acehnese nationalists, and those
advocating independence in East Timor and Irian Jaya. Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch believe that all of these people
should be immediately and unconditionally released.
Members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) and affiliates
In the aftermath of rioting on July 27, 1996 in Jakarta, the Suharto
government began targeting young student activists with leadership
positions in organizations collectively branded by the army as the
"new PKI," in part because their political manifesto called for
"populist social democracy." The organizations included the People's
Democratic Party (Partai Rakyat Demokratik or PRD) and its affiliates:
Indonesian Student Solidarity for Democracy (Solidaritas Mahasiswa
untuk Demokrasi or SMID); Center for the Struggle of Indonesian
Workers (Pusat Perjuangan Buruh Indonesia or PPBI) and Indonesian
Peasants' Union (Serikat Tani Nasional or STN). Fourteen students or
ex-students, twelve in Jakarta and two in Surabaya and all under the
age of thirty, were eventually arrested and tried in 1997 on
subversion charges. Two of the fourteen have already been released on
completion of their sentences.
After no evidence linking the group to the July riots could be found,
the students were accused of organizing worker rallies; calling for a
referendum on East Timor; and campaigning for a more open political
system through the repeal of five laws from 1985 that freeze the
political system in its current form. They received the heaviest
sentences for political dissent in more than a decade. Budiman
Sudjatmiko, chairman of the PRD, was sentenced to thirteen years,
while the PRD general secretary, Petrus Haryanto, received a six-year
sentence, increased to eight years on appeal. Yakobus Eko Kurniawan
was sentenced to eight years in prison. Gusti Agung Anom Astika, known
as Anom, was sentenced to five years in prison.
SMID activists also received heavy sentences. Garda Sembiring, Jakarta
SMID leader, was sentenced to twelve years, while Suroso and Ken Budha
Kusumandaru received seven- and four-year terms respectively. Mohamed
Sholeh, chairman of the Surabaya branch of SMID, was sentenced to four
years.
Activists of PPBI, the labor wing of PRD, received similar sentences.
Dita Indah Sari, head of PPBI, was sentenced to six years, reduced to
five on appeal. Ignatius Damianus Pranowo, got a nine-year term, while
Wilson bin Nurtiyas was sentenced to five years. Coen Husein Pontoh,
head of the STN, received a three-and-a-half-year sentence.
Other Suharto Critics
Agustiana Suryana, 32, a community organizer in Garut, West Java, was
sentenced to eight years in prison on subversion charges in December
1997. A former economics student, he was charged with being the
intellectual mastermind behind riots in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in
December 1996, involving mostly Muslim youth, that left four dead and
over a hundred buildings destroyed or damaged, including eleven
churches. The riots stemmed from a protest over the torture of Muslim
teachers by the Tasikmalaya police after the son of a local police
officer was punished at a Muslim school. The prosecution had scant
evidence against Agustiana, who was detained on January 8, 1997 and
held incommunicado for three weeks. He was not in Tasikmalaya on the
day of the riot, and it appeared that the prosecution based the
charges on the fact that since 1993, Agustiana had helped organize
demonstrations by farmers and workers over land disputes and wage
issues respectively. At the time of his arrest, Agustiana was also a
deputy secretary-general of the United Indonesian Democratic Party
(Partai Uni Demokrasi Indonesia, PUDI) the party founded by former
prisoner of conscience Sri Bintang Pamungkas.
Labor Activists
Labor activists were a frequent target of the Suharto government.
Several are awaiting trial, although the only labor organizer
remaining in prison is PPBI leader Dita Indah Sari, mentioned above.
On March 9, 1998, one activist named Farah Diba Agustin [f] from the
independent Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (Serikat Buruh Sejahtera
Indonesia, or SBSI); two students, Kuldip Singh and Widi Wahyu Widodo,
belonging to the political activist organization, Pijar; and a
journalist from the newspaper Sinar Pagi named Wandi Nikodemus
Taturonggo, also known as Binyo, were arrested while taking part in a
demonstration in front of a Jakarta department store. They had
gathered there with some seventy others to protest layoffs and to read
a list of demands for political reform. The demonstration was broken
up by security forces. All were charged under Law No. 5/1963 banning
political activities; the two students and the journalist were also
charged with failing to disperse when ordered to do so. They were
subsequently released on bail, but their trial continues.
Muslim Activists
The Suharto government arrested many individuals for alleged
involvement in groups advocating an Islamic state. Many of these
people have been convicted solely for their peaceful beliefs and
activities.
In June 1992, Abdul Fatah Wiranagapati, 62 at the time, was sentenced
to eight years' imprisonment for undermining the state ideology and
attempting to establish an Islamic state. The court found that he had
not used violence but had spread his ideas by holding meetings and
preaching about Islamic law and had, according to the judge "... used
his preaching in mosques to disseminate anti-government propaganda."
He is believed to be still in prison.
Between 1983 and 1986, some forty members of Islamic study groups in
Central Java, known as usroh, were convicted of subversion for
allegedly seeking to establish an Islamic state and undermine the
state ideology. The founder of the usroh movement was a man tenuously
linked to a series of violent crimes in central Java in the late
1970s, including the murder of a university administrator in Solo in
1979. None of the young men arrested for participation in usroh
meetings, however, were ever accused of using violence; the
prosecution did charge that they were planning a three-stage revolt
against the government, although no substantiating evidence was
presented at their trials. Among the few who may still be detained are
four men from Brebes, on the north coast of central Java. Agil Riyanto
bin Darmowiyoto was a sociology student at Gajah Mada university in
Yogyakarta when he was arrested; he was sentenced to fifteen years in
March 1987 for running an usroh training course on campus. Agil
Riyanto was charged with criticizing Pancasila in his lectures and
saying that Muslims had no obligation to obey Indonesian law if it did
not accord with the Quran; he was also accused of trying to organize a
network of militant Muslim cadres. Three other men, then in their
twenties, were sentenced at the same time to fourteen years each for
giving lectures at usroh courses. They were Achmad Syafei, a cobbler,
and Gazali and Ramdhon, both traders. Achmad Syafei was accused of
helping provide materials for Agil Riyanto's lectures, including a
copy of a banned Muslim newspaper called al-Ikhwan (The Brotherhood).
Irian Jaya
Many people from Irian Jaya were imprisoned by the Suharto government
for their peaceful activities in support of an independent state of
West Papua or West Melanesia. At least eleven prisoners of conscience
from Irian Jaya are believed to remain in prison, most of whom were
imprisoned for their alleged roles in organizing peaceful
demonstrations in support of independence for the province in 1988 and
1989.
In December 1988, a group of people staged an entirely peaceful
flag-raising ceremony proclaiming the independence of "West
Melanesia". Thirty-seven of those involved were tried and imprisoned
for their role in the ceremony. Among those believed to be still in
prison as a result of their role in the ceremony is Habel Tanati, who
was imprisoned for eleven years under the Anti-subversion Law. In 1989
and 1990 forty other people were arrested and tried for allegedly
planning demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the proclamation of
West Melanesian independence. Among them were Drs. Alberth S
Kailele,(1) Edison Waromi, Jacob Matui, Drs. Jacob Rumbiak, and
Martinus Kambu. Alberth Kailele, a provincial civil servant and law
school graduate, was arrested after he reportedly led a prayer service
on December 14, 1989. He was found guilty of subversion and sentenced
to 17 years imprisonment. Edison Waromi, a lawyer, was sentenced to
twelve years in prison in June 1990. Jacob Matui (alias Jack), a
former employee of the office of the Governor of Irian Jaya, was
sentenced to twelve years in prison in 1989 or 1990 under charges of
subversion. All three are believed to be currently detained in
Kalisosok Prison, Surabaya, along with Habel Tanati. A former employee
at the office of the Governor of Irian Jaya, Drs Jacob Rumbiak, a
lecturer in geography in Jayapura, received a seventeen-year prison
sentence in January 1990 and is detained in Cipinang Prison in
Jakarta. Martinus Kambu, a former government employee, was convicted
in January 1989 under the Anti-subversion Law and is believed to be
serving his twelve-year sentence in Irian Jaya.
John Sorondanya was sentenced to ten years in prison in 1989 after
being found guilty of subversion and is believed to be detained in
Irian Jaya. He was arrested following his and others' efforts to
convince a leader from the armed resistance, the Free Papua Movement
(Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM) in Irian Jaya to surrender to the
authorities. John Sorondanya and two others were apparently arrested
on the grounds that their ability to secure the surrender of a leader
of the armed resistance was evidence of their own involvement with the
OPM.
East Timor
Five East Timorese prisoners of conscience remain in custody following
their conviction for allegedly organizing the peaceful march to the
Santa Cruz Cemetery in Dili, the capital of East Timor, on November
12, 1991, which resulted in what has become known as the Santa Cruz
massacre. They received sentences of up to life imprisonment, and all,
like many of the prisoners from Irian Jaya, are detained on the island
of Java, thousands of miles away from their homes and families.
All five men were imprisoned for organizing the procession to the
cemetery on November 12, 1991. Gregorio da Cunha Saldanha, 35, a nurse
in Dili, East Timor, was arrested after he was shot and wounded during
the massacre. He was accused of being the principal organizer of the
demonstration and was charged with subversion. During his trial, he
admitted that he had been involved in organizing the peaceful march.
He received a life sentence. Saturnino da Costa Belo was arrested
several weeks after the massacre; he was sentenced to twelve years in
prison. Francisco Miranda Branco, around 47, was arrested in Dili in
December 1991 and charged with subversion; he was sentenced to a
fifteen-year prison term. Jacinto das Neves Raimundo Alves, a
government employee, was arrested in November 1991; he received a
ten-year term. João Freitas da Camara, 42, was arrested in Jakarta on
20 November 1991 following demonstrations there against the Santa Cruz
massacre. He received a ten-year sentence for expressing hatred
towards the government.
**********************************
X-URL: http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports98/indonesia/indo1-2.htm
Indonesia: Release Prisoners Of Conscience Now!
A Joint Human Rights Watch - Amnesty International Report
June 1998
I. "Prisoners Of Conscience" III. Prisoners Accused Of Violence
Indonesia's Prisoners
II. THE PRISONERS LINKED TO THE PKI
Thirteen elderly men remain in prison, accused of membership in or
involvement with the Indonesian Communist Party (Partai Komunis
Indonesia or PKI). Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
believe that all of these men should be released immediately and
unconditionally.
By the Indonesian government's own count, more than one million people
were detained in the aftermath of a coup attempt by a short-lived
"Revolutionary Council" on the night of September 30, 1965 that the
Indonesian government has blamed on the PKI. Six senior army officers
were killed by the plotters, some of whose members were junior
officers in the army's Cakrabirawa Unit, the presidential guard. Some
PKI leaders may have been involved, but the true facts of that night
have never been disclosed. The primary beneficiary of the upheaval
that followed was Maj. Gen. Suharto, who had met with Col. Abdul
Latief, the head of the Revolutionary Council, just before the coup
occurred. Latief, now in Cipinang Prison, Jakarta, told journalists
last week that he had warned Suharto that the coup was going to take
place, and that Suharto was clearly involved.(2)
In the months that followed, Suharto gradually asserted his control,
taking full powers from then President Sukarno on March 11, 1966 and
finally becoming president in 1967. From October 1965 through 1967,
Indonesia witnessed one of the worst slaughters of the twentieth
century, when hundreds of thousands of suspected PKI members or
supporters were slaughtered by other Indonesians, with the
encouragement of the army. The party, once the largest in the world
after the communist parties of the Soviet Union and China, was
annihilated.
Of the one million detained, only about 1,000 were ever brought to
trial, and the trials, which took place in a highly charged political
atmosphere where to say anything in defense of suspected communists
was to bring suspicion on oneself, are considered to have been
uniformly unfair. Repeated calls by Amnesty International to review
their trials were ignored by the Suharto government. Some of the
thirteen men still in prison are known to be prisoners of conscience
although there is insufficient information to make a definite
determination for others; some clearly were involved in the use of
violence. It is the nature of their trials, their age, and the ill
health of many in the group that lead Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch to call for their release. The organizations consider
their continued detention cruel, inhuman, and degrading.
Several of the thirteen prisoners received death sentences, including
three men detained in Cipinang Prison, Jakarta. They are I Bungkus,
now 61, then a sergeant in the Cakrabirawa Unit; Asep Suryaman, 72,
allegedly a member of the PKI's "Special Bureau" responsible for
building contacts for the PKI within the military; and Nataneal
Marsudi, 63, who in 1965 had been a sergeant major in the air force.
Isnanto, formerly head of the PKI in North Sumatra, who was arrested
in 1968 and sentenced to death in 1974, is detained in Tanjung Gusta
Prison, Medan, North Sumatra.
Several of the men are known to be seriously ill. Pudjo Prasetio, now
72 and detained in Kedong Pane Prison in Semarang, suffers from
Parkinson's disease which has severely affected his physical mobility.
He was a shipbuilder and trade unionist who joined the PKI in the
mid-1950s. He was arrested in 1967 in Central Java, held for twelve
years, then tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1979.
Abdul Latief, 72, was sentenced to life imprisonment following his
arrest in 1965. He suffered a stroke a year and a half ago, as a
result of which he now speaks with a slur. When questioned recently
about the possibility of release, Abdul Latief was quoted as saying,
"I will be ready for whatever comes my way...I am just happy for those
that are going to be released before me. Let my friends walk free
first."(3)
The other prisoners include Sri Soehardjo, 70, who was arrested in
November 1967. He was sentenced to death but this was later commuted
to life imprisonment which he is serving in Padang Prison, West
Sumatra. His health is believed to be poor. Manan Effendi
Tjokrohardjo, 78, was arrested in October 1965. A former editor of a
local newspaper, he was the vice-chairman of a branch of the PKI in
Kalimantan. He was sentenced to death in 1967 but this was commuted to
life imprisonment in 1982. Detained in Kalisosok Prison, Surabaya, he
is believed to be almost paralyzed following two strokes in 1997.
Alexander Warouw, 80, was involved with a Kalimantan branch of a trade
union linked to the PKI. He was also arrested in October 1965 and
tried for subversion. In 1967 he was sentenced to life imprisonment
and is detained in Balikpapan Prison in Kalimantan. He suffers from
diabetes.
Soma Suryabrata, 71, is serving a life sentence in Pamekasan Prison,
Madura. Buyung Ketek, 58, was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment
in 1986 for subversion, but it is believed that this was converted to
a term of life imprisonment in 1987. Arrested in December 1965, he is
serving his sentence in a prison in Padang, West Sumatra. Sido, about
whom little is known, is believed to be serving a life sentence at
Gunung Sari Prison in Ujung Pandang, along with Markus Giroth, 62, a
member of the PKI, who was arrested in 1967. Markus Giroth was accused
of trying to revive a network of PKI activists in south Sulawesi and
was tried by a military tribunal. He was sentenced to death in 1968,
but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he is believed
also to be in poor health.
I. "Prisoners Of Conscience" III. Prisoners Accused Of Violence
**********************************
X-URL: http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports98/indonesia/indo1-3.htm
Indonesia: Release Prisoners Of Conscience Now!
A Joint Human Rights Watch - Amnesty International Report
June 1998
II. The Prisoners Linked To The PKI IV. "Disappearance" Victims
Indonesia's Prisoners
III. PRISONERS ACCUSED OF VIOLENCE
Many political prisoners in Indonesia have been accused of using
violence in the course of armed insurgencies or other political
activities. In some cases, Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch believe the accusations may be false but do not have enough
information to make a definitive judgment, often because of
restrictions on imposed by the Indonesian authorities on access to
sensitive regions by human rights monitors. In other cases, people
were arrested in circumstances which were clearly unlawful -- such as
the recent "kidnaping" style arrests of political activists in the
run-up to the presidential elections -- during which the detainees
were subjected to torture or ill-treatment, denied access to
independent human rights lawyers, and convicted in grossly unfair
trials which frequently relied on testimonies extracted under duress.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch believe that the Habibie
government should ensure the review of the convictions of all
political prisoners with a view toward amnesty or fair and independent
retrial if there is reason to believe that their trials were unfair
and/or based on information extracted by torture.
East Timor
Many East Timorese are in prison convicted for their alleged
involvement in or support for the armed resistance against Indonesia.
East Timorese political prisoners face particular difficulties in
terms of getting a fair trial. The language used in court is
Indonesian, which many East Timorese, particularly those who were
adults at the time of the Indonesian invasion, do not speak fluently.
The Indonesian authorities do not always provide adequate translators
for trial proceedings or complete translations of trial documents.
Many East Timorese prisoners have publicly rejected the convictions
against them and refused to pursue judicial reviews of their
convictions on the grounds that they do not recognize the right of
Indonesian courts to try them.
Since the fall of Suharto, there have been growing calls for the
release of Xanana Gusmão, the East Timorese guerrilla leader who is
serving a twenty-year prison sentence in Jakarta. Many believe that
his release could provide an impetus to resolution of the conflict in
East Timor and would be a major gesture of reconciliation towards the
East Timorese people. But the Indonesian authorities have said they
will not release Xanana Gusmão on the grounds that his conviction was
for criminal actions, connected to his armed activities in support of
East Timorese independence.
Arrested in 1992, he was charged with rebellion and illegal possession
of firearms. While the international spotlight on him meant that his
trial was more open than the trial of other East Timorese political
prisoners, it still failed to meet international standards of
fairness. Prosecution witnesses, many of whom were themselves
detainees, appear to have been subjected to undue pressure from
military authorities, making their testimony unreliable. Neither the
witnesses nor Xanana Gusmão himself were fluent in Indonesian, the
language of the court proceedings.
The Suharto government refused an appeal of the conviction against
Xanana Gusmão. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch believe
that Xanana Gusmão should be released if he is not to be given the
opportunity for a retrial by an independent tribunal which meets
international standards for fairness.
Aceh
In 1989 the Indonesian security forces began an operation against
armed separatists in the special region of Aceh, northern Sumatra.
Over the next three years, as many as 2,000 civilians, soldiers and
members of the guerrilla group, Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh Movement),
were killed, including many who were unlawfully killed by the armed
forces of both sides. At least 1,000 people were arbitrarily arrested
on suspicion of supporting Aceh Merdeka or because of family
connections to members of the group. At least fifty people were tried,
convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences for subversion
after unfair trials; many of them were subjected to torture and
periods of incommunicado detention. A number of these people are still
in prison.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch believe that at least
seven and possibly more of these people may have been imprisoned for
nonviolent activities and may be prisoners of conscience but a lack of
adequate information and government-imposed restrictions on access to
Aceh has meant that this is impossible to determine. All have been
tried unfairly and have not been given the opportunity for a thorough
and impartial review of their convictions. As such, the organizations
are calling for their immediate release if they are not to be given a
prompt retrial which meets international standards of fairness and
impartiality.
One such case is that of Nurdin Abdurrachman. A lecturer at the
Language Institute (Lembaga Bahasa) at Syiah Kuala University in Banda
Aceh and originally from Jeumpa, North Aceh, he was taken from his
home by armed men in October 1990. Nurdin had been detained for two
years in the late 1970s as an Aceh Merdeka supporter, reportedly after
turning himself in, and had been tortured then. In 1991 he was
convicted of subversion and sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment. Hazbi
Abdullah, around thirty-seven years old, is another Syiah Kuala
University lecturer in the economics faculty who was taken into
custody in October 1990 and sentenced to seventeen years' imprisonment
in 1991 for subversion. He had also been detained once before in 1978
on allegations of involvement with the armed resistance. There were
indications that the two men were arrested not because of any
indications of involvement in violent activities but because they had
come under surveillance by the military which believed that
intellectuals were involved in the Aceh Merdeka movement. At the time
of their arrests, the then regional military commander, General
Pramono, noted in an interview that a flyer had been sent to
journalists by the resistance explaining the aims of the movement. "If
there aren't intellectuals, there's no way they'd have the capacity to
produce such a flyer," he said.
Another possible prisoner of conscience is Drs. Adnan Beuransyah,
sentenced to nine years by a Banda Aceh court for subversion. A
journalist with the newspaper Serambi Indonesia, Beuransyah was
arrested on the night of 15/16 August 1990 by a military team. In the
local headquarters of the internal security agency, he was stripped,
burned with cigarette butts, and given electric shocks. The torture
continued for three days until he signed an interrogation deposition
confessing to membership in Aceh Merdeka. He told the court during his
trial:
I tried to tell the truth, to retract what I said in the interrogation
deposition, but Mr. Prosecutor would not accept that what I had said
before was not true. He pushed me in deeper and said officially that I
had joined Aceh Merdeka on April 20, 1990 and was charged with
collecting information for them. I never joined AM and was never given
any assignment by them, never took an oath and was never offered a
leadership position...He asked me about the flag and logo of AM. I
said I didn't know because I had never seen them. Then he explained
what they were. Everything in that deposition came from the
prosecutor. I just stayed silent and didn't deny anything, because if
I tried to defend my position -- which was not the same as the
original deposition -- the prosecutor said I would be turned back over
to the Laksus [internal security]...Five days later, the prosecutor
came with a typed text..and all that remained was for me to sign
it.(4)
Two other men who are also possibly prisoners of conscience are Mulkan
Usman and Imran Hasan, both of whom were tortured after their arrest
and forced to sign confessions. Mulkan Usman was trained as a lawyer
but was self-employed at the time of his arrest in September 1990. He
was held in unacknowledged detention for nearly six months and brought
to trial in March 1991. Accused of soliciting funds for Aceh Merdeka
and attending "clandestine" meetings, he was convicted of subversion
and sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment. During his
interrogation, Mulkan Usman was tortured and forced to sign an already
prepared statement which listed the names of several individuals,
including Imran Hasan, who were alleged to have taken part in meetings
at the Kuta Alam tailor shop in June and July 1990 during which
activities of Aceh Merdeka were allegedly planned. During his trial,
Mulkan Usman denied the allegations and claimed that he had been
forced into making the confession after being subjected to beatings,
kickings, and electric shocks. He claimed that he had been denied
access to a lawyer and that the meetings at the shop never took place.
Trial observers noted that when he first appeared in court he was
unable to walk and had to be supported by security guards. Mulkan
Usman had been arrested for political activities in 1977 when he was
sentenced to three yeas for raising an Aceh Merdeka flag at two public
schools in Banda Aceh. In 1983 he was sentenced to two years and eight
months in prison for helping the brother of another prisoner flee
Indonesia.
Imran Hasan, 37, was a coffee shop owner and a graduate of the Faculty
of Islamic Law of the Islamic Institute in Banda Aceh. He was accused
of sympathizing with Aceh Merdeka and of allowing his coffee shop to
be used as a meeting place for Aceh Merdeka. During his time in
military custody Imran Hasan claims that he was subjected to torture
and ill-treatment including electric shocks on his genitals, beatings,
and kickings. The evidence for his alleged involvement with the armed
resistance came from confessions extracted under torture and duress
from both himself and other detainees. He was convicted of subversion
and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. He is believed to be
imprisoned in Banda Aceh.
Two other people, a husband and wife sentenced in January 1995, are
also believed to have been imprisoned because they provided medical
treatment to a member of the armed resistance who lived in their
neighborhood and not because they were involved in violent activities.
Nurhayati Hasani, [f], around 49, and her husband, M Amin bin Samidan
(alias Amin Panga), were convicted of subversion in 1995 and sentenced
to six and nine years' imprisonment respectively after being found
guilty of involvement with Aceh Merdeka.
A recent upsurge in Aceh Merdeka activities has led to further
political trials. In 1997, at least seventeen people were tried for
their alleged involvement in activities linked to Aceh Merdeka,
including armed robbery. Some were charged with subversion. There are
serious concerns that several of those tried were held incommunicado,
subjected to torture, and tried unfairly.
Irian Jaya
The Suharto government arrested many people in Irian Jaya in the
context of counter-insurgency operations against guerrillas. Those
arrested and tried have included individuals accused of involvement
with the armed resistance, the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua
Merdeka, OPM). Many were tried under the Anti-subversion Law but
others charged and imprisoned more recently have been tried on charges
of murder.
At least nine political prisoners remain in custody after having been
found guilty of activities in support of independence, including at
least four convicted under the Anti-subversion Law. Beni Kagoya was
sentenced to eighteen years in prison in 1988 for his alleged
involvement in an attack against the Indonesian Armed Forces in March
1988. Elieser Awom received a life sentence in February 1989, after
having been found guilty of subversion for his alleged activities with
the OPM. He is believed to be in Kalisosok Prison. Melianus Rumbiak
was also accused of involvement with the armed resistance and found
guilty of subversion and sentenced to at least seventeen years in
1988. He is believed to be in Kalisosok Prison. Also in Kalisosok is
Samuel Wenda who received a twelve-year sentence in 1989 for his
alleged role in an attack against the military.
In 1996, five other men were imprisoned for up to ten years for their
alleged role in military attacks against the Indonesian army. They
are: Kowil Kasimrus Iwop, who was sentenced to seven years'
imprisonment; Basilius Arinjab Apay, seven years; Benediktus Beraip,
ten years; Benediktus Kua Wamba, seven years; and Henrikus Kowil, who
received a seven year sentence. While Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch acknowledge the government's right to arrest individuals
engaged in recognisably criminal actions, the organizations believe
that the frequent use of unfair arrests and detention procedures by
the Suharto government, as well as a well-established pattern of
unfair trials, warrant a review of these cases.
Islamic Prisoners
In 1989 and 1990, scores of other Muslims were tried on charges
including subversion following a series of violent incidents involving
alleged Islamic militants in Way Jepara, Lampung, a province in
southern Sumatra. A religious teacher there named Warsidi had
attracted many followers after a series of land disputes in the area,
and local authorities began to get reports of quasi-military training
taking place on the grounds of Warsidi's school. After Warsidi refused
to obey a summons, then Colonel Hendro Priyono, now Transmigration
Minister in the Habibie government, ordered local forces to approach
Warsidi directly. On February 6, 1989, the subdistrict military
commander, Captain Soetiman, took twenty men and went to the school.
Soetiman entered the compound and was killed, apparently by poisoned
arrows shot by the group's followers. The next day, Colonel Hendro
took about 100 men to the school where, according to the official
version, their warning shots were met by arrows and Molotov cocktails.
They opened fire on the hundreds of people in the compound, leaving an
official death toll of twenty-seven and a suspected death toll of over
one hundred. The shootings have never been adequately investigated.
That night, about forty kilometers away, a public minibus was
hijacked, and the driver and a soldier riding it were killed. Warsidi
followers were suspected of mounting the attack. On February 8, seven
youths attacked the district military command in Metro, Lampung, with
arrows and Molotov cocktails; six were shot dead by soldiers. These
incidents were followed by a crackdown on Muslim activists in Jakarta,
West Java, Bali, and Lombok suspected of links to the Warsidi group.
At least six of the dozens arrested at the time are believed to be
still in prison. They include Zainal Arifin, serving a twelve-year
sentence in Rajabasa prison, Lampung, and Fauzi bin Isman and Nur
Hidayat, both serving seventeen-year terms in Cipinang prison,
Jakarta. Sudarsono, from Lombok, is also detained in Cipinang Prison.
Other people arrested in connection with the Lampung case are in
prisons on Nusakambangan island and in Kalisosok prison, Surabaya.
During the 1990s, hundreds of other Indonesians were arrested for
their alleged links to groups which the authorities claimed were
advocating an Islamic state.
PRD activists
Five people with alleged connections to the PRD have been arrested in
connection with an explosion in a flat in the Tanah Tinggi area of
Jakarta on January 18, 1998. The explosion was believed to have been
caused by a homemade bomb. Two men were arrested immediately after the
explosion in January. Agus Priyono was arrested at the scene of the
explosion and remains in police custody under Emergency Law 12/1951
accused of making or possessing explosives. Rachmat Kustianto Basuki,
detained in Yogyakarta on January 31, was released after two weeks in
custody.
Three other alleged members of a PRD-affiliated organization,
Mugiyono, 25; Nesar Patria, 28 and Aan Rusidanto, 24, were arrested by
the military in East Jakarta on March 13. They are believed to have
been tortured during two days in military custody following their
arrest, including being subjected to electric shocks on their
genitals. The three men were originally threatened with subversion
charges in connection with the January explosion, however this threat
appears to have been dropped in the absence of any evidence linking
them to the explosion. They remain in police custody in Jakarta.
The national chairman of SMID, Andi Arief, "disappeared" from his
sister's house in Lampung on March 28, 1998. He had gone underground
following the July 1996 riots and was one of the most wanted men in
Indonesia. A month after his "disappearance," he resurfaced in police
custody in Jakarta, accused of involvement in the January bomb blast.
Andi Arief was subjected to electric shocks on his genitals along with
other torture and ill-treatment. He remains in police custody awaiting
trial. There are strong indications that the medical treatment
available to those in custody for the treatment of the mental and
physical consequences of torture are insufficient. Human Rights Watch
and Amnesty International believe that pending trial, Andi Arief
should be able to seek adequate medical treatment, if necessary
outside prison. In this context, it is worth citing international
human rights standards which state that "it should not be the general
rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody...".(5)
II. The Prisoners Linked To The PKI IV. "Disappearance" Victims
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X-URL: http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports98/indonesia/indo1-4.htm
Indonesia: Release Prisoners Of Conscience Now!
A Joint Human Rights Watch - Amnesty International Report
June 1998
III. Prisoners Accused Of Violence V. Released Prisoners Of Conscience
Indonesia's Prisoners
IV. "DISAPPEARANCE" VICTIMS
Several people who "disappeared" earlier this year remain unaccounted
for. They include Yani Avri, also known as "Rian," and Soni, both
Indonesian Democratic Party (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia, PDI)
activists who were accused of planting a bomb during the May 1997
election campaign. They were taken to the North Jakarta district
military command (KODIM) where they were held overnight. The next day
they were picked up in front of the KODIM and taken to the same place
where two resurfaced disappearance victims, Pius Lustrilanang and
Desmond Mahesa, were held. They were taken out of that building on
March 12; their current whereabouts are unknown.
Suyat, a SMID activist and student from Solo, has been missing since
February 12, 1998. According to Suyat's brother, five men who were not
in uniform and showed no identification but said in response to a
question that they were "officers" (petugas) came to the family's
house in Gemolong, Sragen, Central Java at about 2:00 a.m. on February
12, looking for Suyat. The family said he was not at home, but the men
entered anyway and began searching the house. When they could not find
Suyat, according to an April 16 account in the Surabaya newspaper,
Jawa Pos, the men took away his brother, Suyatno. After being
interrogated in an unknown place, Suyatno told human rights workers
that he was blindfolded and tied up and then brought to the house of
one of Suyat's friends in Karanganyar, outside Solo, then to the house
of another friend in Kalijambe, Sragen, where Suyat was staying. The
five men took Suyat away and dropped off Suyatno on the outskirts of
Sumber village. No one has seen or heard from Suyat since.
Herman Hendrawan, 28, went missing in March 1998 along with two
others, Faizal Reza and Rahardjo Waluyo Djati, following their
attendance at a press conference at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute
in Jakarta. His two friends are known to have returned to their homes
after having been taken into custody, but Herman's family and friends
claim to have had no word from him yet.
Petrus Bima Anugerah, known as Bimo, aged twenty-five, is a student at
the Driyakara School of Philosophy in Jakarta and a member of the
militant political organization, the People's Democratic Party (PRD).
He has not been seen or heard from since March 31. His father
officially reported him missing to the national police command on
April 12.
III. Prisoners Accused Of Violence V. Released Prisoners Of Conscience
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Note: Last segment should have been labeled #5 - John
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Indonesia: Release Prisoners Of Conscience Now!
A Joint Human Rights Watch - Amnesty International Report
June 1998
IV. "Disappearance" Victims Release Prisoners Of Conscience Now!
Indonesia's Prisoners
V. RELEASED PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE
Since coming to power, President Habibie has released four prisoners
and indicated that others may be released. On 25 May, Muchtar Pakpahan
and Sri Bintang Pamungkas were both released from Cipinang Prison in
Jakarta and their sentences were commuted. Muchtar Pakpahan, 44, was
the head of the independent Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (Serikat
Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia or SBSI). He was serving a four-year prison
sentence for "incitement" and was on trial for subversion and
spreading hatred toward the government. Sri Bintang Pamungkas, former
member of parliament for the United Development Party (Partai
Persatuan Pembangunan or PPP), was convicted of insulting the
President for comments made during a lecture at a German university in
1995. Sentenced to two years and ten months' imprisonment in 1996, he
remained free pending an appeal. In 1997, however, following his
founding of a new political party, the United Indonesian Democratic
Party (Partai Uni Demokrasi Indonesia or PUDI), he was arrested and
charged with subversion. His trial was ongoing at the time he was
released.
Two others were released on May 28, Nuku Soleiman and Andi Syahputra.
Nuku Soleiman, an activist with the Pijar organization, was convicted
of insulting the head of state after a demonstration against the state
lottery in December 1993. At the demonstration in front of the
presidential palace in Jakarta, Nuku distributed stickers with the
slogan, "Suharto, mastermind of all disasters." He was sentenced to
four years' imprisonment in 1994, a sentence that was later increased
to five years, and was due for release in December 1998. Andi
Syahputra, 32, a printer, was arrested in October 1996, when police
confiscated 3,000 copies of an issue of the underground magazine,
Suara Independen (Independent Voice). The magazine contained several
articles that the government found offensive. In April 1997, Syahputra
was convicted of insulting the president and spreading hatred and was
sentenced to two years and eight months imprisonment.
On June 2, two activists in Pekalongan were acquitted. Saddam Husein
bin Munaris, 30, and Suhardi bin Acwan, 27, had been detained for four
months, suspected under Article 154 of "spreading hatred" toward the
government by establishing the People's Committee of Pekalongan. The
Committee had called for President Suharto to step down, reform of the
political system, and improvement of the economy.
IV. "Disappearance" Victims Release Prisoners Of Conscience Now!
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