New Efforts To Release Aceh Political Prisoners

BY NURDIN HASAN

BANDA ACEH, Feb 6 (TAG) – A community advocacy team for Aceh political prisoners releasing held a meeting with the House of Representatives Commission III members on Monday in Jakarta to demand the Indonesian government giving remission to the Aceh political prisoners who still in jail.

“We call on Commission III members that in charge of legal and law issues to pressure the government to give remission for three Aceh political prisoners who still detained in jail,” Buchari H.Y, one of the advocacy team, told The Aceh Globe during a phone interviews.

He explained that some 50 people from Aceh civil society in Jakarta and also from Aceh province joined the meeting. Some of them were civilians figures who flew from Banda Aceh to Jakarta to take part on the meeting, he said.

It’s seem new efforts after a long time struggled by Aceh civil communities to try to releasing of the three – Teuku Ismuhadi, Ibrahim Hasan, and Irwan bin Ilyas – who sentenced life imprisonment as they were accused  involving in Jakarta 2000 bombing.

Based on the peace agreement signed by the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders in Helsinki, Finland, in 2005 mentioned that “the political prisoners and detainees held due to the conflict will be released unconditionally as soon as possible.”

The historic agreement to end 29 year of armed-bloody war in Aceh province that claimed more than 25,000 people, mostly civilians, mentioned that all people who involved on GAM activities should be granted the amnesty.

In the indictment, the three prisoners were related to GAM activities.

He added that demand for releasing the Aceh political prisoners based on the presidential decree dated December 23, 1999. The decree released by the late former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid would give a new hope to reducing of prisoners’ sentence’s terms in Indonesia.

“To give special remissions of changing from a lifetime punishment to become a normal sentence is based on the president’s decision, not by the justice and human rights minister,” he said.

“The responses from the members of Commission III were very good. They promised to ask the government, especially the minister of justice and human rights, about this case because some recommendations’ so far no followed up from the government yet.”

Buchari says that someone who has spent sentences and good behavior during detained in jail can be proposed to change a life imprisonment so the political prisoners has a rights to have remissions. The three has been spent in jail for almost 12 years.

The advocacy team also proposed to the Commission III a recommendation from National Human Right Commission that sent to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on July 29, 2011 that asked the president to change the status of Aceh political prisoners’ life imprisonments.

There’re three Aceh political prisoners that still in Cipinang Prison in Jakarta, namely Teuku Ismuhadi, Ibrahim Hasan and Irwan bin Ilyas. They charged involvement in the bombing of Jakarta Stock Exchange in 2000.

“We call on the Indonesia government to give full attention to them because they have rights to get sentence reduction,” Buchari said adding that they came to House of Representatives to ask the support from parliament.[]