An Indonesian appeal court has overturned the convictions of 12 soldiers for massacring Muslim protestors in 1984, a lawyer for the soldiers said, a move likely to anger rights activists.

An ad hoc human rights court last year sentenced an army captain to three years in jail and 11 of his subordinates to two years each for the shooting spree that killed 24 people in Jakarta's Tanjung Priok district.

The generals charged with responsibility for the shootings were acquitted.

Yan Juanda Saputra, the soldiers' defense lawyer, welcomed the decision by the Jakarta High Court to overturn the verdicts Thursday. "From the outset we knew there was no evidence of human rights violations. It was an accident," he told AFP.

Officials at the High Court could not be reached immediately.

The original verdicts were condemned by rights groups who said Indonesia lacked the nerve to bring powerful military figures to book for atrocities committed during the 32-year rein of former dictator Suharto, who stepped down in 1998.

The trials were Indonesia's second attempt to bring soldiers to court for rights abuses after court proceedings against 18 security officers or officials charged with atrocities surrounding East Timor's 1999 independence vote.

The human rights court acquitted all but one of the 18 accused of the atrocities, prompting calls from rights activists for a UN-backed war crimes tribunal.