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Densus 88 castigated for wrongful arrests, torture
Jakarta Post - January 2, 2016
"It is a matter of deep regret that these men, these innocent men, were tortured," said Saleh Partaonan Daulay, a member of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, in Jakarta on Saturday, as reported by tribunenews.com.
Densus 88 officers, Saleh said, needed to prepare for operations with utmost thoroughness, to avoid charges of unprofessionalism.
"The two men were arrested on their way to the mosque. Over the course of their interrogation, the police realized that they were not terrorists," said the National Mandate Party (PAN) lawmaker in his written statement. According to Saleh, Densus 88 has made similar mistakes on numerous occasions, but has never issued a public apology.
Saleh noted that in May 2014, counterterrorism officers wrongly arrested Kadir, a resident of Banyu Harjo in Surakarta. In July 2013, two Muhammadiyah members – Sapari and Mugi Hartanto – were also wrongly arrested. In December 2012, a further 12 Surakartans were wrongly detained by the counterterrorism force. "There have certainly been many other incidents that have not come to light," he added.
The lawmaker demanded that the National Police publicly apologize to the families of those wrongly arrested, stressing that accusations of terrorism, especially public accusations, were a serious matter.
The National Police also needed to overhaul the procedures used in arresting suspected terrorists to avoid a repetition of such mistakes, he went on. "Terrorism is undoubtedly a grave threat to the nation. But arrests must be carried out properly," Saleh concluded. (bbn)
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/01/02/densus-88-castigated-wrongful-arrests-torture.html.
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