Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – Members of the National Alliance for Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) decided not to appear as witnesses in court Thursday without a security guarantee from the Central Jakarta District Court.
"We need the court to guarantee we will not have to deal with similar physical threats," Nong Darol Mahmada, an activist responsible for the safety of witnesses for AKKBB, told reporters Tuesday.
The decision was made following an assault on Nong outside a courtroom on Monday allegedly by members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).
They were at the court to support FPI leaders on trial for allegedly mobilizing their members to attack the AKKBB activists during a peaceful rally in the National Monument (Monas) park on June 1.
During the trial of Islam Troop Command leader Munarman, Nong said she left the courtroom to help a friend explain to a police officer that seven people wandering around outside the courtroom were defendants in the ambush case.
Her friend, M. Guntur Romli, a victim of the ambush and a witness that day, questioned the police officer why the defendants were allowed to walk freely after their court hearing.
During the heated conversation with the police officer, who did not believe that the seven people were defendants, Nong said, a man started shouting, "Provocateur!" and many people wearing FPI insignia or characteristic white robes surrounded her and Guntur.
"Then everything happened fast. Suddenly someone hit me in the forehead. When we were being taken to a witness room to get away from the seven defendants who were harassing us, a man groped me, pinched my waist and hit me in the abdomen," she said.
She said she recognized the man who had assaulted her.
The report was quickly denied by Achmad Michdan, a lawyer helping defend FPI, who said FPI members would not beat women.
AKKBB also urged the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office to protect their witnesses from the FPI supporters and to forbid the defendants from walking around freely in the court building.
"They're dangerous. We feel intimidated because they can walk around freely and confront us when they know we're giving testimony against them," Nong said.
Firdaus Mubarik, another AKKBB activist, said he was threatened by a man wearing FPI insignia when he attended a court hearing last week.
"The man grabbed my neck and told the other FPI members that he recognized me as an AKKBB activist from TV. He said, 'Let's fry him', and tried to take my picture with his cell phone camera."
Firdaus said he felt intimidated and decided to leave the court before the hearing ended.
Patra M. Zen, chair of the Foundation for the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, said the violence was a test of the court's credibility.
"The presiding judge can ask for maximum security from the police to protect these witnesses," he said.