REPORTS FROM ACHEH

July 14, 2004 - (The Achehnese Community of Australia) These Belated Reports were received from different sources in Acheh. The different sources of these pieces of information had to be kept unidentified for the sake of their safety and freedom of movement in the field to collect further information on what is going on the Acheh.

TNI Kopassus and Raiders Units, and Brimob (paramilitary) in AchehRayeukregency have increased their operations by arresting, kidnapping, and torturing the villagers, GAM family members, male and female, women and children and even the elderly. A number of them have been kidnapped since early March but their whereabouts remain mysterious until now. Wivesof GAM members or their family members were arrested in order to force their husbands or fathers or sons to surrender, as the TNI troops have failed to
find them after conducting operations in the rural villages for months.

The villagers are forced to show the guerillas hideouts but all of the villagers say either I do not know where GAM guerillas are hiding in the forest, or We saw them running through this village in that direction, but we do not know where they were heading to beyond that.

According to some villagers who asked not to be identified, the TNI/Polri (Indonesian Armed Forces/Police) have spent a lot of money to pay their own-trained militias recruited from almost every village, but these militias are working only for money instead of seriously chasing GAM guerillas as the TNI/Polri have coercively instructed them to. They have failed, one villager said. and that s why now they become frustrated and come to the villages to arrest GAM family members to force their GAM members to surrender.

On March 18, at 11:20 TNI posted in Lhoknga, Acheh Rayeuk, arrested Rahmawati Ibrahim, 27, wife of GAM member of Lam Ateuk village, Lhoknga district. The TNI/Polri have threatened not to be release her until her husband surrenders. Until now she is in the TNI/Polri detention.

TNI/Brimob arrested even family members of a GAM member who had been killed in a fighting sometime ago. On 9 April 2004, Brimob troops posted at Meunasah Lambaro Kueh, Lhoknga, while they were conducting operations in the area, arrested Burhanuddin Sulaiman, 17, and Bakri Yusuf Sulaiman, 20, brothers of a GAM member who was killed in a fighting about nine months ago, accusing them of supplying logistics to GAM guerillas.

Family members of GAM guerillas have also become targets of extortions by TNI/Brimob. In Laksamana village, Ajuen, Peukan Bada district, a TNI soldier named M. Jamil, terrorized and extorted money from Rusna M. Yatim, 35, because his brother is a GAM member.

On 23 April 2004, TNI Kopassus posted at Lhoknga District Chief Office building, called all GAM family members in Keude Bieng area, to come to their post. They threatened them that in 20 days time, they must be able to make all GAM members belonging to their families surrender. If not, their identification cards will be revoked and withheld, and their houses will be cross-barred. The TNI Kopassus troops persecuted and harassed wives of GAM members at that gathering.

On 24 April 2004, Brimob posted at Elementary School building Lampulo in Nusa village, Lhoknga, arrested Mahdani Jamaludin, 34, a resident of the village because his younger brother is a GAM member. Until now Mahdani's whereabouts is not known.

TNI and Brimob troops continued with kidnapping action against family members of GAM guerillas in other areas. On 28 April, at 21:00, Brimob troops posted at Simpang Dodik, Banda Acheh, kidnapped M. Daud, 60, a driver, father of Bustami, 25, a GAM member; M. Yusuf, 63, a fisherman, father of Iskandar, 23, a GAM member; and Nurdin, 60, a motor vehicle mechanic, father of Ruslan, 24, also a GAM member. All of the three old men are residents of Ajuen village, Peukan Bada district, neighbouring the province capital Banda Acheh.

On 30 April, at 19:00, TNI Kopassus troops assisted by militias, arrested family members of Tgk Muharram Idris, GAM Military Commander in-chief of Acheh Rayeuk State: Ainal Mardhiah, 65, his mother; Marhaban Idris, 28, his younger brother (both of them are residents of Cot Lamjuweueh village, Merxa district); Cut Khairani T. M. Saleh, 20, his wife; and T. M. Saleh, 60, his father-in-law (both of them are residents of Meunasah Mesjid village, Lampuuk, Lhoknga district.

All of them have been repeatedly arrested and detained and tortured to force Tgk. Muharram Idris to surrender.

On March 21, at 17:00, Kopassus posted in Lhoknga, Acheh Rayeuk arrested Jauhari Abdul Wahab, a boy 15 years old, only because he is a child of a GAM member of Meunasah Meusijid Lampuuk, Lhoknga. He is still missing until now. Eyewitness who saw him being taken away said Jauhari had been badly
tortured when the TNI troops threw him onto the military truck.

The next day, 22 March, at 22:00, Brimob (paramilitary) posted at Meunasah Lambaro Kueh, Lhoknga, Acheh Rayeuk regency, arrested

1. Nurmali Zakaria, 55, mother of GAM member, Burhan M. Wahab, of Aneuk Paya village, and arrested
2. Khairiana Ubiet, 25, Burhan s wife, resident of Lam Ateuk village, Lhoknga.
The Brimob troops also stole precious materials belonging to both of them. Until now they are still in Brimob detention.
Earlier, at 15:00, Brimob troops, posted in Lhoknga district town, also arrested
3. a widow Salami Hasan, 55, mother of a GAM member, M. Nasir of Aneuk Paya, Lhoknga district. The troops also ransacked her house and turned topsy-turvy everything in her house. Until now she is still in Brimob detention.

On 24 March 2004, at 17:00, Kopassus troops posted at the office of the district chief of Lhoknga kidnapped a farmer, Sabaruddin Ruebia, 28, resident of Keunee Ue, Peukan Bada, from a coffee shop in Peukan Bada market. Earlier on that day, TNI troops posted at Lam Kunyet village had also arrested or kidnapped Zulkainain, 25, a resident of Lhong village, Peukan Bada. He was kidnapped when he was keeping flinch birds from coming to his rice crops on his own farm. People are concerned that birds will destroy his rice crops and his dependents; his elderly mother and grandmother will suffer seriously. The TNI accused both of them of being GAM members, while the people in the areas say they are ordinary boys whose day-to-day activities were faming taking care of their rice and cash crops. Both of them are still missing.

On 28 March, 2004, 21:30, Brimob posted at Peukan Bada district, arrested Zulkifli Umar, 27, a truck driver, accusing him of supporting GAM. Until now his whereabouts remain mysterious.

In another district, Krueng Raya, in Acheh Rayeuk regency, we received a report that on 31 March, at 11:00, in their operations in the area, TNI troops arrested M. Nur Ali, 50, a resident of Runyueng village. He was arrested in front of his house and taken away in the military truck. Until now his whereabouts are mysterious.

On 2 April 2004, TNI troops conducted operations in Limo Mesjid village, Indrapuri district. In these operations they ransacked villagers houses and turned topsy-turvy everything in them. Three of those houses belong to Sakdiah, 57, a widow; Jufri Munir, 27; and Jamilah, 28, wife of Tgk Achyar, GAM Governor of Acheh Rayeuk State. (ASNLF adopts the US-model federal system of government in Acheh, with 17 states each being governed by a governor.) The TNI troops forced her to divorce her husband, or otherwise they will detain her at the TNI post until her husband surrenders.

On 4 April 2004, TNI Kopassus troops posted at Peukan Tuha village, Cot Gle, conducted operations in Siron village, Cot Gle. Frustrated, unable to find GAM guerillas in the area, the TNI troops then collected about 40 villagers, men and women, and forced them to dip themselves in the water of the river from 14:00 to 16:00. Most of them fell ill.

On the same day, at 16:00, Brimob troops posted at Sibreh in their operation arrested a resident, Firman Yunus, 20, of Lamgue Baro village, Suka Makmur district. They tortured and severely injured him, but despite his critical condition, the Brimob troops threw him on to the truck and took to an unknown destination. His whereabouts remain mysterious until now.

The arrests kidnappings of ordinary people that the TNI and Brimob accused of supporting GAM have been harshly the conduct of operation by the TNI/Brimob in the entire Acheh. On 7 April 2004, TNI troops that were conducting operations in Indrapuri district kidnapped three civilian people, residents of Aneuk Gle, Indrapuri district:

Junaidi Muhammad, 23;
Mawan M. Saman, 23;
Mustafa M. Saman, 25. The last two are brothers.

They were accused of helping GAM guerillas with logistic supplies. Until now their whereabouts are not known.

On 8 April, TNI troops of Rajawali unit from Java, posted at Simpang Janthoe kidnapped by force, Amiruddin Muhammad, 35, a resident of Lampakuek, Seulimue, accusing him of helping GAM with logistic
supplies. Until now his whereabouts remain unknown. On the same day, These same TNI troops tortured and critically injured a farmer, Bukhari Hasan, 50, resident of Tanoh Abee village, accused of having supported GAM, while actually he refused to cooperate with the TNI to show GAM guerilla camps in the jungles.

On 9 April, TNI posted at the same location as above kidnapped Samsuar Juned, 30, a resident of Lampakuek, Seulimuem, from his home, accusing him of halping GAM. Until now people do not know where he is detained or has been taken to.

On 25 April, at 02:00 Brimob posted at Tarom village, Cot Keu-eueng, Kuta Baro district, kidnapped :

Mahdi H. Kasim, 28, a resident of Lmroh village;
Fauzi Marhaban, 2, a resident of Lampoh Tarom village;
Keuchik Nurdin Hasyim, 34, village chief of Lam Alue Cut village;
Effendi Abdullah, 24, leupueng Lam Alue village.

All of them were kidnapped from their homes, being accused of supporting GAM. Their whereabouts are until now still known.

The TNI/Polri also ransacked and turned topsy-turvy all the materials in the houses belonging to those suspected as supporters of GAM. On 23 April, at 02:00 Brimob troops posted in Lamtengoh village, Peukan Bada ransacked the house of the chief of the village, Nurdin, 40, and destroyed or overturned everything in it. They accused him of supporting GAM.

On 22 April, at 21:00, Brimob posted at Meunasah Lambaro Kueh, Lhoknga district, tortured three civilians found on the marsh looking for fish in Beurawang coastal village. Initially the mini-truck ridden by the Brimob troops skidded off the road throwing all of them overboard on to the ground, and their automatic guns fired in all directions. They then vented their anger on the three civilians:

Musliadi Muslem, 16;
Salman Zainun, 25;
Ramli Yusuf, 32;

all of them are residents of Aneuk Paya village not far from the location. Now all the three are still in critical condition.

The day before, 21 April, another group of Brimob troops vented their anger on a kiosk keeper, Darmawan Hamid, 22, resident of Lamteungoh village where the Brimob troops are posted. The troops asked him for several packs of cigarettes. Darmawan refused to give them anything because they had
come so many times and he could no longer stand the loss. One of the troops hit him his fist on Darmawan face causing his mouth to bleed, and then they threw into the river nearby for several hours before they released him in a critical condition.

According to the people in the area, TNI/Polri have no more tactics that they could think of to fight GAM guerillas. In panic, the TNI troops vented their frustration by robbing the people and threatening family members of GAM guerillas that they would be arrested and killed if their family members who are GAM guerillas have not surrendered within a certain period of time. This happened on 6 April, when Koramil (military rayon headquarters) of Sibreh and Montasik districts issued a threat to the family members of GAM guerrillas that if by 20 April GAM members did not surrender, they would arrest their family members instead of them.

Meanwhile Brimob troops posted in Lhoknga, extorted money from two residents of Lamcok village, Lhoknga district: Syahrul Yusuf, 22; and Ridwan Zuhri, 23. Both of them were on their way home on motorcycle from Lampuuk, Lhoknga when they were followed by the Brimobs troops also on motorcycle on their way home from Lampuuk, Lhoknga. The Bromob troops threatened to shoot them if they did not stop. They seized their identity cards, which they had pay a ransom of Rp200,000 (about $32.-) each of them to get their identification cards back.


Belated reports from Bireuen and North Acheh, received in the last two days, brought information about the extra-judiciary killings of civilians and arrests of family members of GAM guerillas.

On 6 March, at 05:00 in the morning TNI Kopassus posted in Matang Geulumpang Dua, Peusangan, arrested a farmer, Ramli, 34, resident of Blang Dalam village. Where he was taken to nobody knows. He was on his farm to tend his cassava and other cash-crops, something that he had expected to generate some income to support his family, when he was arrested. The TNI claimed that he was a GAM member, but the people say he is just an ordinary person. Until now his whereabouts remain mysterious even to his family members. The crops have gone decayed, the family was left empty-handed.

Three days earlier, on 3 March, at about 16:00, TNI Kopassus and Raiders troops arrested a farmer, Anwar Muhammad, 22, resident of Leubok Seutui, Peusangan. He was fishing in the river when the TNI troops arrested him and later shot him to death without even asking him any question. A boy who people asked not to be identified, happened to be near the shooting site, said that Anwar had just reaped some of the cash-crops and was prepared to go home when he saw some fish beneath the river bank; a temptation to fish.

On the same day, TNI Kopassus troops posted in Leubok Seutui, Peusangan, arrested M. Nasir, 40, a farmer in Sarah Kubu village. The troops forced him to show them GAM camps in the jungle. Until now they have not returned him to his family nor have they informed his family as to his whereabouts.

On 9 March, TNI troops of Kopassus and Raiders units conducted operations in Kutablang area of Gandapura district. Upon failure to find GAM guerilla camps in the area, something that the militias had informed them earlier, the troops open fire in every direction destroying villagers crops and killing cattle and live-stocks in the villages. Then at 02:00 in the morning, they arrested Murdani Hasan, 20, a student, and took him with them. At 09:00, the troops shot him to death in Bugeng. According to eyewitnesses, the troops had tortured Murdani so severely they could not any longer release him alive, so they finished him with one gun shot in his head.

In Alue Kuta village, Peusangan, Bireuen regency, on 29 March, TNI troops of Kopassus unit, brought a digging machine to the house of Tgk. Salahuddin, 40, a traditional education teacher of Alue Kuta village.
The TNI troops claimed that under his house there had been a number of GAM weapons hidden. A man who the TNI claimed to have given them information that there had been some weapons buried under the teacher s house was then taken from the site to a destination nobody knew. Some people said that man was a person who the TNI had mistakenly arrested and forced him to confess a GAM member and to show the weapons that GAM might have hidden.

On 30 March, TNI troops posted in Meureubo village, Kutablang, Bireuen regency, arrested a boy Fadli AR, 19, resident of Gle Putoh, Gandapura district. He was arrested in Seuriket , Tingkeuem Manyang village, Kutablang sub-district, when he was visiting his ailing grandmother. The TNI troops were conducting operation in the area, and Fadli failed to bring identity card with him when the troops searched him. Despite the pleading for release from the villagers and his family members, the troops tied a piece of rope around his neck and throttled him to death. According to his friends in the village, Fadli, who was a poor farmer, whose both parents had died when he was very small, had heard that his grandmother was
seriously ailing in the village. She died the next day. That was why he failed to carry his identity card, which he had absent-mindedly left in the pocket of other plants at his hut on the farm.

On 7 April, at 10:00 in the morning, TNI troops of Raiders unit posted in Matang Geulumpang Dua, arrested Aisyah Usman, 29, wife of GAM Achehnese National Armed Forces (TNA) Commander-in-chief, Muzakkir Manaf, and her eldest son, Banta Syafif, 3, and her 4 month-old baby. Now they are detained in Awe Geutah village, after they had been kept in the TNI operation post in Bireuen for about two months. Her baby was badly ill because of the condition in the detention and the lack of nutrition in his mother s breastfeeding. The people in the area have pleaded to the TNI to allow the women in the area to take food to the children. But the TNI turned down their pleading.

In North Acheh area, we received a report that on 9 May, TNI troops of Kopassus unit, arrested

Sakdiah, 40, a resident of Meunasah village, mother of GAM Company
Commandant in the area, Abram;
Fathimah Nur, 42, of Jeulikat village;
Nek Caya, 52, of Jeulikat village;
Kamariah, 45, of Jeulikat village;
Ummi Habibah, 20, Jeulikat village.

All of them are detained in order to force Abram to surrender. Until now their whereabouts are still not known.

From: The Achehnese Community of Australia