Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – New lawyers representing two foreigners suspected of violating immigration law in war-torn Aceh called on the local police and the prosecutor's office to be cautious in charging their clients.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Maps showing the location of military forces in Indonesia's Aceh province in the possession of a former University of Tasmania lecturer and her American colleague prove the women are guilty of espionage, the prosecutor's office says.

Nani Farida and Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – The separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) insisted on Tuesday that the government must set up an international monitoring committee to supervise the implementation of a cease-fire between the government and GAM, but Jakarta commentators said they hoped the committee would consist of credible local people.

Iggy Kim – A show trial is looming for Australian academic Lesley McCulloch, detained by the Indonesian military in Aceh, along with US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler. Both have been charged with alleged visa violations.

[This letter was received from Lesley McCulloch via an email from the Acehnese human rights activists working for her release from Indonesian custody. It was written on September 27.]

James Balowski – On September 25, two leaders of the Acehnese civil rights movement – Muhammad Nasir Azis and Kautsar bin Muhammad Yus – who were abducted on September 22 by the Indonesian military (TNI) in the northern Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe were released following a concerted campaign by Acehnese human right organisations against their detention.

A lobby group in Darwin, Australia, claims Indonesian authorities are persecuting and intimidating civil democratic groups in the province of Aceh.

The group Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor held a protest in Darwin's Raintree Park today to highlight the issue.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The dossiers of British academic Lesley McCulloch and American nurse Joy Lee Sadler will be submitted to the Banda Aceh district prosecution office on Monday, one of their lawyers has said.

"The questioning of Lesley and Joy Lee was already completed several days ago," lawyer Afridal Darmi told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Banda Aceh – A female student was shot dead and a soldier was wounded in the latest violence to hit the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and residents said on Sunday.

Jakarta – In line with sharia law, the Aceh legislative council is proposing that caning be one of the punishments for people who tempt Muslims to desert religious teachings.

A special team set up by the council is drafting the bylaw in response to Law No. 44/1999 on Aceh's special status and Law No. 18/2002 on special autonomy for Aceh.

A former Australian University lecturer who is being held by police in the Indonesian province of Aceh is reportedly sick and in need of medical attention.

The head of political and international studies at Deakin University in Melbourne, Damien Kingsbury, says he contacted Lesley McCulloch last night and is concerned for her well-being.

[This article was distributed on September 25 on an online discussion list of academics focusing on Indonesia and appears here via the Joyo Indonesia News Service.]

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Two home-made bombs exploded near the airport hours before President Megawati Sukarnoputri's lightning visit to Aceh yesterday, adding urgency to her pledge to restore security to the province.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A fortnight after the former University of Tasmania lecturer Lesley McCulloch and a friend were picked up by police in Indonesia's Aceh province, two things look increasingly likely: Ms McCulloch will be sentenced to jail and travel for Westerners to Aceh will become more restricted.

Detained British academic Lesley McCulloch and American Joy Lee Sadler are "private intelligence" agents determined to see Aceh split from Indonesia, Jakarta intelligence sources say.

The pair were detained September 10 emerging from what authorities say is a known concentration of support for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Tapak Tuan regency, South Aceh.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Lesley McCulloch, a former University of Tasmania lecturer, will wake up today on a mattress on the floor of a windowless office in Banda Aceh police station at the start of her 12th day in captivity.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – A British academic and her American friend detained in Indonesia 12 days ago for allegedly researching the separatist conflict in Aceh province while on tourist visas have accused their police interrogators of falsifying their statements, their lawyer said yesterday.

Ibnu Mat Noor and Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Two foreign women who are being detained for suspected involvement in separatist activities while on tourist visas, will likely stand trial in the Banda Aceh District Court on charges of immigration violations.

[An Australian academic who's still being questioned by Indonesian police in the northern province of Aceh has spoken to the ABC from the bathroom of the police station. Scottish-born Australian resident Lesley McCulloch who lectured at the Universtiy of Tasmania was detained with an American nurse and a local translator last week in Southern Aceh.

Jakarta – At least 70 young people coming from across Aceh province gathered in Banda Aceh on Wednesday to seek a common understanding on government policy and a peaceful solution to the conflict in Aceh.

Nani Farida and Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Dozens of people were injured and more than 80 shophouses burned in the latest outbreak of violence in Aceh.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman for the Pasee region, Teungku Jamaika, said government security forces, particularly the elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police unit, were responsible.

Jakarta – The British embassy in Indonesia is very concerned over complaints that police have mistreated a British woman detained since last week in restive Aceh province, a diplomat said on Wednesday.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A Scottish academic detained for a week by police in Indonesia's Aceh province said yesterday she had been beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with a knife during her captivity.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has reminded the government of its unfinished investigations into a number of alleged crimes against humanity involving the state in Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Two personnel of the Police Mobile Brigade were killed in a firefight with rebels in Seunuddon, North Aceh, some 300 kilometers east of Banda Aceh on Saturday, according to reliable sources. The bodies of the two policemen who have yet to be identified were taken to the Military Hospital in Lhokseumawe, hours after the firefight.

Banda Aceh – A woman teacher was executed in war-torn Aceh on Thursday, adding to the growing list of more than 50 teachers killed since 1998.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Two unidentified gunmen in Aceh ignored the cries by a schoolboy for his mother's life on Thursday morning, shooting her in the head before stealing her motorcycle, local residents said.

Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which is fighting for the war-torn territory's independence, accepted the government's tentative plan for further dialogs in Geneva, Switzerland, by the end of September or early in October, to end the prolonged conflict that has claimed more than 900 civilian lives this year alone.

An Indonesian soldier and two civilians were killed in the restive province of Aceh, the military and residents said.

[Lesley McCulloch, a lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia, says government forces and the independence movement are responding to the problem in very different ways. She writes from Aceh that there's evidence that the police and military are involved in the drug trade, while the independence movement wants to stamp it out.]

Banda Aceh – Rebels in Indonesia's restive Aceh province ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying several top security and government officials, leaving a police commander critically injured, officials said on Friday.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Two schoolgirls from the same village as the head of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were abducted and executed by armed gunmen in Pidie regency, Eastern Aceh on Wednesday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The peace talks between the government and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) slated to be held in Geneva early this month are still hanging in the balance as no date has been set.

Only misery, not wealth, flows from the ExxonMobil gas pipeline that passes near this poor Aceh village, residents say.

They blame Indonesian security forces assigned to guard ExxonMobil's facilities for beatings, kidnappings, sexual assaults and other human rights abuses.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Indonesia's supreme military commander has warned the separatist movement in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh that he would prefer war to a negotiated settlement to the 26-year-old dispute.

Banda Aceh – Adj. Brig. Syarifuddin was killed by unidentified gunmen and 10 others, presumed to be civilians were killed on Wednesday and Thursday in strife-torn Aceh.

Syarifuddin was on his way from his office to his home in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, early on Thursday.

Rizal Sukma – After being postponed for almost two weeks from August 5, the government finally issued a "new policy" for Aceh on August 19. The policy, while it continues to stress the relevance of previous "comprehensive policy" to deal with the Aceh problem, has two new, additional elements.

Banda Aceh – Security authorities in Aceh have arrested 12 members of the pro-independence Front for Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance.

They were netted in a security operation conducted by a group of security personnel from the Police Mobile Brigade, in Indrajaya, Pidie on August 15, 2002 and so far, none have been released.

Jakarta (Agencies) – The war of words between leaders of the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) independence group continued, an Army captain was killed and at least five civilians were injured in the latest clashes in the region, according to military sources.

The Swedish Ambassador to Indonesia Harald Sanberg says his government won't take any legal action against Hassan Tiro, the exiled chief of Indonesia's separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), as long as he doesn't break any law in Sweden.

Indonesian troops killed five suspected separatist rebels in Aceh province during a raid on a suspected rebel base, a military spokesman said.

The dead were among 12 alleged rebels, including a district commander, whom the military claims to have killed since Sunday.

[Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh may see an escalation in conflict, if the government and separatist rebels fail to agree on conditions for peace talks. The rebel Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, is open to holding talks. But, Jakarta says there'll be no negotiations unless GAM accepts the autonomy package that was introduced late last year.]

Jakarta – Indonesia said on Monday more peace talks with Acehnese rebels could be useful, only four days after playing down chances of dialogue by saying the separatists would have to accept a special autonomy package first.

[What could US oil giant Exxon-Mobil have to do with the deadly conflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh? A group of villagers from Aceh have gone to court in the United States, to sue Exxon-Mobil for complicity with Indonesian security forces in committing human rights abuses.

Dan Murphy, Langsa – Nurjannah jumped back when the soldier poked his head out of the early morning sunlight into her kitchen. But she was quickly reassured – his rifle was slung carelessly over his shoulder, and he politely asked her in perfect Indonesian to wake up her husband, Kamaruddin. "Don't worry," the soldier said.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government yesterday gave separatist rebels in Aceh a three-month deadline to drop their independence demand and resume peace talks, as part of a new and more conciliatory policy towards the restive province.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – New government policies expected to be unveiled today for the restive province of Aceh are likely to be a combination of a carrot and stick approach.

Banda Aceh – At least 5,000 people paraded in Aceh province yesterday to celebrate the country's independence in a show of support for Jakarta's rule over the region.

The peaceful rallies in the provincial capital Banda Aceh were a blow to the separatist Free Aceh Movement, the rebel group that has been waging a bloody 26-year war for self-government.

Muklis Ali and Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia on Monday gave rebels in Aceh province until December to resume peace talks, backing away from the threat of an intensified military crackdown to crush their decades-old fight for independence.

Nani Farida and Apriadi Gunawan, Banda Aceh/Medan – A series of bomb explosions punctuated the celebration of Independence Day in conflict-torn Aceh, as another bomb explosion rocked a hotel in Medan, capital of North Sumatra. It was believed to be connected with the shooting dead of two members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the city on Friday.