ACEH: Abducted civil rights leaders released

BY JAMES BALOWSKI

On September
25, two leaders of the Acehnese civil rights movement — Muhammad Nasir
Azis and Kautsar bin Muhammad Yus — who were abducted on September 22 by
the Indonesian military (TNI) in the northern Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe
were released following a concerted campaign by Acehnese human right organisations
against their detention.

Muhammad Nasir Azis is a leader of Aceh People's Voice (SURA). Kautsar
is the chairperson of the Acehnese Popular Democratic Resistance Front
(FPDRA). The two men were abducted while on their way home after addressing
a public prayer gathering calling for a cease-fire between government troops
and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

This was the second time Kautsar has been detained for organising peaceful
demonstrations. Last year he was imprisoned for six months after he helped
organise a protest against the US oil giant ExxonMobil. He was freed after
a court cleared him of the police charges.

The abductions by the TNI are part of a sweeping crackdown throughout
the province. Former University of Tasmania academic Lesley McCulloch and
US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler were picked up at a checkpoint on September 11.
They have been charged with violating their visas, an offence which carries
a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

On September 20, Indonesian police and marines swept through northern
Sumatra and detained 200 Acehnese, 90 of whom have since been released
after being beaten and forced to pay bribes.

From Green Left Weekly, October 2, 2002.

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From GLW issue 511