Jakarta – The abduction of Harlina who is a member of the Women’s Organisation for Aceh Democracy (Organisasi Perempuan Demokratik Aceh, Orpad) and the Linge University and High-school Students Association (Ikatan Mahasiswa dan Pelajar Linge, IMPEL) by officers from the Lingke Mobile Brigade (Brimob) in Banda Aceh on February 23 at 4am, is in direct conflict with the law as the arrests did not follow correct legal procedures. This further convinces us that marshal law in Aceh has abrogated the principles of freedom for the Acehnese people to express a critical opinion. Herlina was abducted without any specific charges however according a report from two other Orpad members who have already been released, after arriving at the Brimob offices Herlina was accused of being a member of Inong Balee (the women’s military wing of the Free Aceh Movement, GAM) and that her abduction was in fact carried out by security forces in order to discover the whereabouts of Muskin, the general chairperson of IMPEL and the homes of other Orpad members.
The abduction of Orpad members and Iwan Irama Putra, a member of IMPEL and Student Solidarity for the People (Solidaritas Mahasiswa Untuk Rakyat, SMUR), proves that the emergency military command (PDMD) is victimizing more and more civilians and democratic activist. They have now also become the targets of the military operation and this is worsening in the lead up to the April 5 general elections.
These arrests must also be seen as shock-therapy against pro-democracy activists in Aceh. It is also the intent of the PDMD to make other activists leave Aceh so that they can not longer directly monitor of the implementation of marshal law in Aceh and so that the military will be free to commit human rights violations.
At this time the whereabouts of Herlina and Iwan have still not been clarified by police who have even claimed that they have not arrested any Orpad and IMPEL activists. Furthermore, according to two Orpad activist who have been released and were held overnight at the same place as Herlina, she is in a poor state of health because she was beaten with lengths of wood (this was witnessed by the Orpad activists who were released). In addition to her poor state of heal, her legal status remains unclear. She has now been detained for more than 2x24 hours and may be at risk of further torture.
In light of this information, in the strongest possible terms Orpad states the following:
1. We urge those in authority to immediately release Harlina and Iwan as they have been detained for more than 1x24 hours.
2. That Harlina is a member of Orpad and IMPEL and not a member of Inong Balee as they have been accused of by Brimob.
3. That these charges are only a justification for them to torture Harlina; from the beginning Harlina’s arrest was only in order to discover the whereabouts of Muksin and Orpad member Retno.
4. We urge the National Human Rights Commission to carry out an investigation into the abduction and torture of Harlina and Iwan at the Lingke Brimob offices.
5. We urge the national police to immediately release the two prisoners and take responsibility for the torture of the Orpad and IMPEL members by its officers.
6. We urge President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice-president Hamzah Has to immediately end the state marshal law in Aceh as it is resulting in large numbers of human rights violations.
7. We urge the international community to put pressure on Indonesia to end marshal law in Aceh.
8. We reject holding general elections in Aceh under a state of marshal law.
Shortly, we also plan to accompany the victims to the offices of the coordinating minister of politics and security to lodge a formal complaint.
Jakarta, February 26, 2004
Orpad Central Leadership Committee
Raihana Diani, general chairperson
[Translated by James Balowski.]
