[prisoner-rights] Indonesia: Military tortures prisoners in Aceh

(Jakarta, September 28, 2004) -- Indonesian security forces in Aceh are
systematically torturing detainees suspected of supporting the armed
separatist Free Aceh Movement, Human Rights Watch said in a new report
released today. The detainees' forced confessions routinely serve as the
basis for convictions in proceedings that fail to meet fair trial
standards under Indonesian and international law.

Based on interviews with 35 adult and child prisoners from Aceh, held in
five prisons in central Java, the 50-page report, "Aceh at War: Torture,
Ill-Treatment and Unfair Trials," [
http://hrw.org/reports/2004/indonesia0904/ ] documents routine torture,
including the use of electric shock, burning with cigarettes, beatings,
threats, and intimidation against detainees accused of membership in or
support for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Indonesia's northwest region
of Aceh.

Human Rights Watch noted that Indonesian officials have criticized the
torture and mistreatment of Muslim prisoners by the United States at Abu
Ghraib prison in Iraq. In May, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson
said, "The U.S. government does not have the moral authority to assess or
act as a judge of other countries, including Indonesia, on human rights,
especially after the abuse scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison."
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Kopassus, the Indonesian military's notorious
special forces unit, said, "The treatment of Iraqi prisoners was clearly
inhumane because the military should have strict standards on how to
properly interrogate detainees." Kopassus forces are identified in this
report by a number of victims as responsible for torture and other
mistreatment.

"Indonesia was right to criticize the United States over Abu Ghraib" said
Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division. "But
the widespread torture of detainees in Aceh shows that Indonesia's
military is committing the same kind of abuses against Indonesian
citizens."

Detainees described horrific abuse by Indonesian security forces. An
Acehnese man told Human Rights Watch that he was arrested by Kopassus
officers during a military operation in his village on June 5, 2003. He
described what happened:

After I was arrested I was taken to an illegal post. It was a torture
place. At that time I was interrogated and ill-treated. They bound my
hands and covered my eyes and I was hit repeatedly on my body, then they
shocked me with electricity and I was abused until I was bruised.

The incoming administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former general
in the Indonesian army, should address the allegations in this report
expeditiously and in a serious, transparent manner, Human Rights Watch
said.

Human Rights Watch called on the Indonesian government and military to
take all necessary measures to immediately end the torture and
mistreatment of detainees. The government should conduct investigations
into allegations of torture and other mistreatment. Military and police
officials should launch their own investigations and discipline personnel
found to have committed or condoned such acts or who have been complicit
or negligent in allowing them to take place.

"General Yudhoyono says he wants to reform and professionalize the
Indonesian military," said Adams. "His credentials as a reformer can be
judged by his willingness to take these allegations seriously. He needs to
cooperate with independent investigations and pursue the prosecution of
those responsible."

The report also highlighted systematic violations of due process in the
arrest, detention and trial of GAM suspects in Aceh. In most cases,
security forces made arrests without necessary arrest warrants, defense
counsel took no part in preparing a defense or participating in the trial.
Moreover, little or no evidence or witnesses beyond dubious confessions
were produced in court, making cross-examination of witnesses or testing
of evidence impossible.

Human Rights Watch called on Indonesia to invite both the U.N. Special
Rapporteur on Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges
and Lawyers to investigate and report on these allegations and make
relevant recommendations to the Indonesian government on how to stop such
abuses.

The international community, in particular the so-called Quartet (the
United States, the European Union, Japan, and the World Bank), should
insist that Indonesia open Aceh to independent national and international
journalists, human rights workers, diplomats and observers.

"Torture, arbitrary arrests and unfair trials flourish under the cloak of
secrecy," said Adams. "As long as Aceh remains closed to independent
scrutiny, these abuses are likely to continue."

The current round of fighting between the Indonesian military and GAM
began on May 19, 2003, when the Indonesian government imposed martial law
in the region after a six-month ceasefire failed to yield a resolution of
the decades-long conflict in Aceh. The Aceh offensive is Indonesia's
largest military campaign since the country's invasion of East Timor in
1975. The operation involves an estimated 30,000 troops, who are opposed
by an estimated 5,000 armed members of GAM.

Since the resumption of conflict, Human Rights Watch has published a
series of reports on the war in Aceh documenting grave abuses by the
Indonesian military, including extrajudicial killings, disappearances,
arbitrary arrests, and torture. As in this report, the army appears to be
targeting young men whom they believe, often without evidence, to be
members or supporters of GAM.

"Although senior Indonesian military leaders have publicly committed
themselves to follow international law in the conduct of their operations
in Aceh, the behavior of the Indonesian security forces on the ground
tells a vastly different story," Adams said.

Human Rights Watch Press release