Adjidar Ascha, the father of imprisoned trade union activist, Diti Indah Sari, has lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission regarding the treatment of his daughter who is jailed in Malang Prison, East Java.

He told told members of the Commission that he was deeply disturbed by the way his daughter was being treated. Dita who is serving a five-year sentence for her activities as chairperson of the Indonesian Workers Struggle Centre (PPBI) is the only person in Malang Prison who has been convicted of subversion.

He told members of the Commission that his daughter was being subjected to treatment that was quite different from other prisoners in the jail. She is not permitted to read newspapers, tabloids and news magazines.

When several of her close colleagues tried to visit her, they were refused access by the director of the prison.

Discriminatory Dita is also experiencing much worse treatment than other prisoners who are being held in Salemba and Cipinang Prisons in Jakarta (which is where her PRD colleagues are being held).

'When she watches TV, the set is turned off whenever a news bulletin is due. She is also not allowed to listen to music programmes,' her father said. 'My daughter is extremely fond of music so she feels that she is being very unfairly treated. Prohibitions like these dont apply in the prisons in Jakarta,' said her father.

When asked about this discriminatory treatment, the director of the prison in Malang said that permission was needed from the High Court, but when inquiries were made at the High Court, her father was told that it all depended on the Supreme Court because an appeal on her behalf was now under consideration by the Court.