[The following report was filed by the Aceh Working Group on 18 October, following their investigation of three places of detention, in Aceh and Java. The Group investigated 71 cases of persons who were repeatedly beaten and subjected to torture, both during interrogation as well as after having been tried in court, on charges of involvement in GAM, the Free Aceh Movement.]

The perpetrators consisted of members of the police special command Brimob, the marines and members of the intelligence agency, SGI., said Henrie, speaking for the human rights advocacy organisation, PBHI, at a press conference held in the Munir Room of Imparsial Secretariat in Jakarta on 14 October.

The following is an account by Diwan (45) – not his real name – who was detained for two months in the police resort command in Aceh:

I was born in Aceh and am an Acehnese. The authorities accused me of being a GAM member because I had met GAM members on several occasions. They allege that I helped GAM in their struggle for a free Aceh. My arrest was nothing less than a kidnap. I "disappeared" for six days, during which my family were not able to discover where I was.

As I was to discover, there are several stages through which every detainee must go if they happen to "drop by" (mampir) in the police command. The first stage is the arrest which is when some people are killed. Then, after being arrested, the victim will be tortured by officials of the intelligence unit. This is the harshest time. Thereafter the victims are shut up in a cell, where he/she will be maltreated by the warder.

I still feel the terrible stress I was under when I think back about what happened. There is nothing humane about it at all. If it were only a question of being bashed about, till your face looks like a "louhan fish", perhaps that would be normal. I saw a prisoner whose hands had been burnt with fire, who had had lighted cigarettes on his body. After that, he was strung up by his feet, his head hanging down; then his chest was struck with a stick until he vomited blood.

To be honest, my own experience was moderate by comparison. For the first ten days, nothing happened to me. except for being intimidated with such harsh words that I could not sleep at night, fearing that my end was near.

On one occasion, I managed to thwart the intentions of the cell warder to torture another prisoner. How did I do it? I engaged him in conversation, then offered him some fag money. Don't think I was trying to be a hero. It was just that I couldn't stand what was going on, especially when I heard the yells of the other prisoners. I was sometimes reduced to tears, thinking about what the others were going through. I was not able to use this trick again because it was now my turn to be tortured. At first, I was tortured by the intel who interrogated me.

Whenever the answer I gave was not satisfactory, I was struck over and over again till I was covered with bruises and swellings. The hitting turned into punches and beatings on several occasions, if my answers were not satisfactory. Interrogation by the Serse (research officers) was not as bad as by the intel.

Things came to a head when they struck me with a heavy wooden rod, making my whole body very painful. The marks remained with me for several days. And the hearing in both my ears was damaged. All the time that this was going on, I did not see a lawyer. According to regulations, statements made under such circumstances are not acceptable by law.

During the time I was detained, three men disappeared and have not been accounted for. Whether they were innocent or guilty is not at all clear. The first was M. Noer Basyan. As far as I know, he was detained for 22 days. Then the intel took him away to be photographed but no one knows where he was taken. The second one to disappear was Yuslizar, from South Aceh, who was arrested by Gegana (a police special unit) in Aceh Besar. He was held for just a short while then taken away and never came back. The third was Syahril who, they say, died in crossfire in Ulee Kareng. It sounds stange, doesn't it, but we must get used to such strange things happening.

I once saw a prisoner die in the cell. I saw him on one occasion. His name was Ali Akbar and he was arrested in Lampaseh, Banda Aceh. He was so badly tortured that he fell ill and was taken to hospital for treatment. After he had recovered slightly, they tortured him again and he died.

They drew up a BAP (Interrogation Report) for me, but everything in it was exactly as the intel wanted. They were able to get what they wanted after torturing me relentlessly. After that, I was not tortured much and I was moved to a prison and became a prisoner of the prosecution office. I was glad to be moved to the prison because things there were much better there than at the police command. I was able to follow the news and get a newspaper. And what is most important, I was able to meet my beloved wife and children without any restrictions.