PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

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Aceh: TAPOL condemns the murder of Professor Safwan Idris

17 September 2000

TAPOL has today called on the British Government to condemn the murder on 16 September of Professor Safwan Idris in the strongest terms and to call on the Indonesian Government to initiate thorough investigations to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Coming so soon after the murder of human rights activist Jafar Siddiq Hamzah whose badly mutilated body was buried little more than a week ago, TAPOL sees this latest atrocity as a deliberate attempt to strike fear among the Acehnese people by showing that even the most highly-respected dignitaries living in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, are not safe from the criminal designs of the military forces.

Professor Safwan Idris was the Rector of IAIN, the State Institute of Islamic Studies, Ar-Raniry. He was well known as a supporter of a peaceful solution for the Aceh conflict. He was a member of the Independent Investigation Commission into Human Rights Violations in Aceh set up by former President Habibie and was a leading candidate for the position of governor of Aceh. His murder has profoundly shocked Acehnese society in general and the Acehnese human rights community in particualar.

In her letter to Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, the director of TAPOL, Carmel Budiardjo, said that the murder has all the hallmarks of a carefully-planned military operation. The men who entered Professor Safwan's home acted swiftly and professionally and made a get-away on a waiting motorbike before anyone could raise the alarm.

Governments worldwide should insist that the Indonesian police investigate the murder. Until now, the murder of Acehnese MP, Tengku Nashiruddin Daud in January remains unsolved, while the police have failed as yet to satisfactorily investigate the abduction and murder of Jafar Siddiq Hamzah. 'Without thoroughgoing action by the security forces, it is feared that the spate of killings will continue,' said TAPOL.

Last week, TAPOL called on Komnas HAM, Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission, to set up a special team to investigate the abduction and murder of Jafar Siddiq Hamzah as well as the murder of Nashiruddin MP, and the disappearance in early June of the GAM spokesperson, Ismail Syahputra.

ENDS

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