Asia-Pacific News
Indonesian activist dies after self-immolation
Dec 11, 2011, 8:56 GMT
Jakarta - An Indonesian student activist has died, three days after he set himself on fire near the presidential palace, police said Sunday.
Sondang Hutagalung, 22, died of his injuries on Saturday night after being treated at Jakarta's Ciptomangunkusumo hospital, said Jakarta police spokesman Baharudin Djafar.
'He had burns over 80 per cent of his body,' he said.
It was not clear why Hutagalung, a law student at the Bung Karno University in Jakarta, had set himself on fire, or whether he had any political grievances.
Local media said he was known on campus as a socialist activist and had been outspoken about human rights abuses.
'We don't know exactly why he took the action and I still don't understand why he did because he was a gifted student,' his brother Bob Crispianza was quoted as saying by the Vivanews website.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was saddened by the activist's death, his spokesman Daniel Sparingga said.
'The president shared the sorrow of Sondang's parents and their relatives,' he said.
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