[Nasional-e] Emergency picket for Aceh detainees

[Ambon]

----- Original Message -----
From: Pip Hinman
To: ASIET newslist
Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2002 4:49 PM
Subject: Emergency picket for Aceh detainees


Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP)
MEDIA RELEASE *** MEDIA RELEASE *** MEDIA RELEASE ***
15 September 2002
Australian academic, US nurse, local interpreter detained in Aceh—beatings
alleged
"Canberra complicit", says former Jakarta detainee
Emergency picket of Garuda Airlines in Sydney:
55 Hunter St (between Castlereagh and Elizabeth Streets),
12.30pm tomorrow, Monday, September 16.
On September 11, the Indonesian army detained Lesley McCulloch, a permanent
Australian resident of British citizenship, and until recently an academic
at the University of Tasmania; Joy-Lee Sadler, a United States nurse; and
their Acehnese interpreter, Fitra bin Amin. The army alleges that the three
women were in possession of information about the Acehnese independence
movement. They have been denied visits by lawyers and family. McCulloch is
respected for her academic research into Aceh affairs.
The Aceh Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (Kontras
Aceh) is campaigning for their release. Kontras has notified Action in
Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) that, in a phone call to Joy-Lee
Sadler, her son Dante was told she had been beaten.
Deportation is likely for the foreigners, but grave fears are held for the
safety of Fitra bin Amin.
ASAP’s national convenor, Pip Hinman, said, "This is another example of the
continuous violations of human rights by the Indonesian military in Aceh".
Hinman was detained with her 4-year old daughter by Jakarta police in June
2001.
"Over the last few years, there has been an alarming escalation of
disappearances and extra-judicial killings. The Indonesian military has gone
all-out to suppress the Acehnese people’s campaign to win independence.
Local human rights lawyers and activists have been systematically targeted.
"Any efforts by outside observers to document and monitor this grave human
rights situation have been blocked by the military.
"In this, Indonesian forces have been aided and abetted by Western
governments, including our own Howard government. Canberra has steadily
resumed military ties with Jakarta, explicitly opposed independence for Aceh
and West Papua, and turned a blind eye to the barbaric actions of the
Indonesian military in those two provinces.
"This has only lent legitimacy to what Jakarta is doing. We’re seeing a
repeat of what happened in East Timor.
"Further, since September 11, both Canberra and Washington have sought to
use the so-called ‘war on terror’ to justify its support for Indonesian
military operations.
"This makes the Howard government complicit in the human rights violations,
including the recent detentions in Aceh.
"ASAP demands the Indonesian government immediately release the three women
and guarantee the safety of Fitra bin Amin. We also demand Canberra
immediately cease all military ties with Indonesia and to sponsor an
international delegation to monitor human rights in Aceh and West Papua."
For interviews and enquiries call Pip Hinman 0412 139 968,
Jon Lamb 0438 162 597 or Iggy Kim 0421 322 175.