Jun 12, 2007, 9:19 GMT
Jakarta - UN human rights envoy Hina Jilani urged the Indonesian government Tuesday to arrest and prosecute perpetrators in the murder of a prominent human rights campaigner who was brazenly poisoned in 2004.
'It is a little disappointing that the perpetrators have not yet been brought to justice, and that in the one case that went up for trial, there has been an acquittal,' Jilani, the UN secretary-general's special envoy for humanitarian affairs, told a press conference in Jakarta at the end of a week-long visit.
Jilani said the prospects for the promotion of human rights in Indonesia had improved 'considerably' in recent years, as the country attempts to move from authoritarian rule to democracy.
However, she expressed concern about the lack of protection for activists who are involved in sensitive issues.
Jilani noted that progress had been made in the investigation into the murder of activist Munir Said Thalib, but said she was deeply concerned about claims by activists that the justice system was being twisted to protect his killers.
Two former senior officials from the country's shadowy intelligence agency have been implicated in Munir's murder but police have yet to even question them.
'This is a case that will be a test of the government's will to protect human rights defenders,' Jilani said. 'This is also a case at which the whole international community is looking.'
'We do hope that there will be a conclusion that will show there is a commitment to protect human rights defenders,' she said, adding that she feared further delays in closing the case would make activists more insecure.
Munir, co-founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, died aboard a flight to Amsterdam on Garuda Indonesia, the country's national flag carrier, in September 2004 after his juice was laced with arsenic.
Munir, 38, was a prominent critic of the Indonesian security forces, which is blamed for thousands of deaths and the disappearances of scores of activists during ex-dictator Suharto's 32-year regime. His work in uncovering atrocities earned him many enemies.
A Garuda pilot with links to the country's State Intelligence Agency (BIN) was convicted and jailed for 14 years for serving Munir the arsenic-laced juice, but the Indonesian Supreme Court inexplicably overturned his conviction in December 2006 in a ruling that enraged human rights groups.
Local and international media have widely reported that former senior BIN officials, including the agency's former director Hendropriyono and a deputy director, were implicated in Munir's death.
Reformist Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is under international pressure from the United States, European Union and UN to solve the murder, which occurred shortly before he took office.
After being accused of dragging its feet on the investigation, the Indonesian National Police in April named two former Garuda officials as suspects. However, activists were angry that no former BIN officials were named.
During a visit to separatist-minded West Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, Jilani said she heard credible reports of arbitrary arrests and torture of human rights defenders, and that others were threatened with arrest by the police and military.
In particular, Jilani said she was extremely disturbed by allegations that human rights activists who expose abuses by security forces are declared separatist rebels in order to undermine their credibility.
However, Jilani said she was greatly encouraged by the improvement of human rights activism in Aceh province, on the westernmost part of the Indonesian archipelago. The strife-torn province is in the midst of a peace process between separatist rebels and the Indonesian government after 29 years of war.
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